My Reason
by Author sama277
Summary: CHAPTER 21 UP! Naruto and his team are sent on a mission to the Land of Water. Getting there is hard enough, but when Naruto is shunned by the whole village, it gets harder. Especially when Sasuke finds out about Naruto being possessed...SasuNaru yaoi
1. Mission Time!

Chapter 1

Mission Time!

Naruto gazed up at the morning sky as he waited for the rest of his team. It was so blue…almost as blue as his eyes. Yawning, he looked around. The Village hidden in the Leaves was unusually still and peaceful. Naruto looked at his watch and let out an exasperated sigh. It was only 4:38am!

Trying to remember why he was there, Naruto leaned against the railing of the bridge that his comrades usually met at.

_Oh yeah…_he thought glumly as he remembered why he was there. A messenger had been sent to the apartment Naruto was staying at sometime around dawn—the Hokage had a mission for Naruto and company that involved the Village hidden in the Mist. Naruto was dreading this particular mission.

Ya see, the Village hidden in the Mist and the Village hidden in the Leaves had been at war for quite sometime.

The only time they've ever united was when the Nine Tails Fox had wrecked havoc upon the Lands of Fire, Wind, Lightning, Earth, and Water. During the battle to stop the fox, it was the Village hidden in the Mist in the Land of Water that had taken most of the damage.

For some reason, they had blamed the Village hidden in the Leaves—probably since the seal to lock the fox-demon away was based upon a child from the Village hidden in the Leaves.

The very child would be cursed by the possession of the Nine Tails Fox for the rest of his life. Because of that soul reason, he'd be hated by everyone—shunned to the very end. No one had ever loved him.

This child had been through so much hurt and torment in his life that he wasted a lot of his childhood crying, and if he was ever caught crying, he'd be called weak. Eventually, the child made a mask—a mental mask. He'd become tired of crying, and he had no more tears to shed. Whenever he felt sad or lonely, he'd put on his mask and smile through his hurt. Never would he be called weak again.

And that child was now a 14 year old chunin waiting for his late friends and sensei. The blonde's head drooped as he started to doze off.

"Hey, dobe!" yelled a familiar voice.

Naruto woke with a start and spun around making sure his 'mask' was in place. Standing in front of him were the very people he had been waiting for. The one who had woken him up was his arrogant rival/friend/comrade. It took Naruto only a second to snap out of his daze at the sight of the raven-haired Uchiha.

"Sasuke! Teme!" Naruto yelled as he punched out at Sasuke, which Sasuke dodged with ease.

"Naruto! Stop it!" yelled the only female of the team, Sakura.

"Sasuke started it, Sakura-chan! He woke me up!"

"That doesn't mean you have to try to hit him!"

Their sensei, Kakashi, sighed and scratched the back of his head. "Why must you all yell so early in the morning?"

Both of the arguing chunin stopped and faced their sensei. "Sorry Kakashi-sensei…" Sakura and Naruto mumbled in unison.

"Whatever." Kakashi smiled under that thing covering half of his face. "I suppose we should head over to see the Hokage now. We said we'd be there at 5:00am sharp, and it's now…" he checked his watch. "5:21."

"What!" the chunins yelled.

"Hey, I said stop yelling!" Kakashi said as he covered his ears.

"You're late! All of you!" yelled Tsunade.

"We know! We know! Stuff it already!" Naruto waved hands in the air. Tsunade growled.

"If you were anyone else, Naruto-kun, I'd have you thrown out of this village!" she said menacingly.

Naruto shrugged. "But I'm not anyone else! I'm Naruto Uzamaki, and I'm going to take your place as the fourth Hokage and then everyone will look up to me and respect—"

"We get it, Naruto." Sasuke said, cutting off Naruto's 'I'm gonna be the greatest Hokage and then you're gonna have to kiss my ass, blah blah blah…' speech. He'd heard it over a thousand times since he'd been with Naruto. Hell, Sasuke could even recite it himself.

"Teme…" Naruto said as he glared at Sasuke.

"Dobe…" Sasuke replied, glaring back at the blond.

"That's enough, you two. Now let's get on with things!" Tsunade interrupted the two boys lost in glaring at each other. "Okay, I'm sure my messengers told you that you'd be traveling to the Village hidden in the Mist, right? If not, then they'll have to be punished, but that can wait for now."

"Okay," she continued, "anyway, so our village and the Village hidden in the Mist and are starting to get along now that Gatta is dead and gone. And…lemme see…They wanna meet up with a representative from our village and decide a treaty. We agreed and planned on having someone travel to the Village of the Mist, but he got drunk last night and is now suffering from a hangover, so he can't exactly go."

Kakashi had an idea of what she'd say next. _She didn't… no…she wouldn't have…_

"So, just for a little fun, I added all of the jonin ID No. into a raffle and…I randomly pulled yours out, Kakashi! Yay, luck you!" Tsunade finished and clapped her hands together.

_She did! _

Kakashi stared at her dumbfoundedly. "What?" he managed to say.

Tsunade sighed. "Do I really have to repeat things? Well, to put it bluntly—pack your bags, 'cuz you and your team are going to the Land of Water!" she answered cheerfully.

"When?"

"Right now! You have two days before your meeting with the Kage of the Village hidden in the Mist! That's 48 hours to get there, so you'd better get moving now!"

"B-but, Hokage…shouldn't you be the representative?" Kakashi stuttered.

"What! Me! Be the rep. of my own self? Are you sane enough to go on this mission, Kakashi?" Tsunade replied in surprise.

Kakashi sighed. "No, Hokage, you wouldn't represent yourself. You'd represent this village. And yes, I do think I'm sane enough to complete this task."

"Hmm? You're not representing _me_? Oh. Heh, well I still can't go."

Kakashi raised his uncovered eyebrow. "And why not?"

Tsunade crossed her arms. "Weeeelll…that's really none of your business, is it? But if you must know, I've some important things to tend to tomorrow night."

Karachi's brow rose further. "Namely?"

"Namely…poker and…gambling, heh heh…" Tsunade replied timidly.

Kakashi sighed. He had no choice to give in, seeing as how _nothing_ could ever come between Tsunade and her gambling.

"Alright, alright…But," he looked over his shoulder at the three chunin idly twiddling their thumbs. "Do they really have to come?"

"Is there a reason they shouldn't?" Tsunade looked confused.

"Well…not so much Sakura and Sasuke, but what about Naruto?" Naruto looked up at the mention of his name.

"Huh?" Naruto probed as he tilted his head.

"Ah! That's right…I forgot…" Tsunade pressed the palm of her hand against her forehead.

"Forgot…what?" Naruto asked suspiciously.

"Naruto-kun…Maybe it'd be best if you stayed here…" Tsunade offered.

"WHAT!" Naruto yelled, forgetting about his 'mask'. "Why should I?" He put his hands on his hips.

"Well…certain reasons…just make me think you should wait to go on another mission…" the hokage looked at Naruto.

"Well I won't! Sasuke gets to go and so should I! I won't let him surpass me, and I'll be damned before I just sit back and watch as he goes on a mission I can't go on!" Naruto yelled indignantly.

"Naruto, it's for your own good." Kakashi chided.

"No! I'm going!"

"Naruto-kun! I said you'll wait, so you'll wait!" Tsunade said in a firm voice.

"And I say I'm going, so I'm going!" Naruto said even firmer.

"Naruto, listen for once. They said it was for your own good, so just stay here and Sasuke-kun and I'll fill you in once we get back. We'll go on other missions together. Now stay here!" Sakura scolded.

"Butt out, Sakura-chan!" Naruto yelled. He knew he was going to regret yelling at her later, but now, whoever said he should stay was against him. And he didn't like people who were against him, even though almost _everyone_ was against him.

"Naruto! Don't talk to a lady like that!" Sakura raised her hand, as if to slap the blond chunin, but stopped to look at Sasuke. "What do you think, Sasuke-kun?"

Sasuke shrugged. "Whatever. The dobe should do what he wants, he always does."

Naruto glanced at Sasuke, and then returned his attention to Tsunade. "I'm going, no matter what you say, you old hag!"

Tsunade looked taken aback, but her composure returned a moment later. "No. I'm the Hokage, and you have to do what I say. And I say you're staying."

"Why should I stay! Why is it that I'm always the one who's special! I work harder than everyone one else, but I can't even go on a simple mission! What will I ever get out of life if I stay behind!"

_Why can't I just be like everyone else? Why do I have to be so different? _

"Naruto-kun, if you just listen to what I have to say, then I'm sure you'd—" Tsunade was cut off by Naruto's yelling.

"No! I won't listen to you! Why should I! You're just an old hag who loves gambling more than anything or anyone else around you!" Naruto yelled.

Tsunade instantly stiffened at these words. "Fine. Do what you want, Uzumaki. Make a big mistake and go to the Village hidden in the Mist. Die for all I care, right? After all, I have a gambling game to go to." With that last statement, Tsunade rose from her throne-thing, furious.

"You all are dismissed. Leave for the Village hidden in the Mist immediately, and I don't want to see your faces again until your mission is over." The three Chunin and the jonin were shocked at their Hokage's sudden intensity, and when they didn't move, Tsunade swept her right hand through the air in clear dismissal.

"I said take your leave!"

With that said, Tsunade turned her back on them.

"C'mon…We should leave." Kakashi told his team. Together, he and his still dazed team headed for the exit.


	2. Getting There is the Hard Part

Chapter 2

Getting There is the Hard Part

It had taken them only a day and a half to reach the shore of the Land of Fire and sail across to the Land of Water region—a trip that would usually take almost four days to journey. During the whole duration of that time, Sasuke and Sakura were still mad at Naruto for making the Hokage angry with them.

"I can't help it!" Naruto whined as they rented a small gondola to ferry them from the small island they were resting at to the Land of Water. "It was her fault for not agreeing to let me go on the mission in the first place!"

"Naruto, stop making excuses!" Sakura scolded.

"Sakura, drop it. Let the dobe do what he wants." Sasuke growled.

"Sasuke, teme! Just…just leave me alone…" Naruto knew his 'mask' was cracking. He didn't want his team to see him mope, so he turned away.

"Whatever…" Sasuke huffed.

The truth was that Naruto _did_ feel bad about the things he had said to Tsunade. But he felt even worse about almost being left behind again. He silently berated himself for being different from the others.

_What's wrong with me? Didn't I say I wouldn't hold Sasuke-anou and Sakura-chan back? Yeah…I did. I swore on my very blood that I wouldn't. I'm sorry, Tsunade-sama. But I'm going to do whatever it takes to get better, and advance further than everyone, even Sasuke-anou, so I can become the Hokage of the Land of Fire! _

Kakashi came back after a few moments of awkward silence.

"Well, I was able to rent a ferryman to get us to the Village hidden in the Mist. We should arrive within the hour or so." He informed them.

"Well, let's get going!" Naruto shouted after fixing his 'mask'.

Kakashi smiled. "Alright." He answered coolly.

Together, the four ninjas strode over to the docks where many gondolas were docked. A balding man nearing his mid-fifties beckoned Kakashi to a certain gondola. He appeared to be their ferryman.

Their gondola was a small, five person boat with a long and slender pole next to it. The man from before snatched the pole and stepped into the boat-like thing.

"Get in." he said in a gruff voice. And that's exactly what they did.

As soon as everyone was securely inside the boat, the ferryman untied the rope that docked their gondola and kicked the gondola away from the docks.

Slowly, they drifted away before the ferryman used the pole in his hands to push the gondola further into the heavy mist surrounding them.

"I can't see a thing!" Naruto shouted in the mist. They were in the middle of the ocean surrounded by mist.

"Naruto, stop complaining! It's so annoying!" Sakura yelled.

"Would you both quiet down!" Sasuke said in a low, yet menacing voice.

"Sorry, Sasuke-kun…" Sakura said immediately.

"Why do we need to be quiet?" Naruto turned to his comrade.

"Are you really that stupid, you dobe?" Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

"Waddya mean?" Naruto yelled angrily.

"Well…Naruto, why did we have to be silent last time we were here?" Kakashi calmly asked.

"Well…" Naruto thought for a bit, then said, "Well, because if we were noisy, then we would've been heard by Gatta's gang, then we wouldn't have been able to get in…right?"

Kakashi nodded. "That's right."

"But wait, I'm still confused! Gatta was killed by Zabuza, so…we shouldn't have a problem getting in this time—noisy or not, right?" Naruto tilted his head to the side.

"Naruto, use your head! Now think…what would have happened after Gatta died?" Sakura tried to reason in a calmer tone of voice.

"Well, everyone would celebrate!" Naruto stated matter-of-factly.

"No!" Then Sakura lost her calmness and proceeded to hit Naruto over the head.

"Ow! Sakura-caaaaan!" he whined rubbing the tender spot on his head. "You didn't have to hit me, ya know…"

"Naruto," Sasuke turned to the blond chunin. "Gatta was an important person; he would have been replaced sooner or later. So it doesn't matter if he had died or not. If we make the villagers aware of our presence, we'll be either shot down or chased out."

Naruto shivered. "Oh." He simply said.

"We're here. Get ready to dock," came the gruff voice of their ferryman.


	3. Rehash

A/N: Muwahahaha! I finally found out how to make an A/N! or...maybe this isnt it, but whatever! Yay! Cookies for everyone! You'll get more of these...I think...Heh, I'm glad you all like my story, it'll get better! Sorry about the whole Hokage mix up. I'm not used to Naruto saying anything besides '4 Hokage'...O.o...I'll be sure to update this soon, if you all really like it!

Warning: I might not have made any yet, but I'm pretty sure that there will be some Kool-Aid guy flames in this story. Eventually. MUWAHAHAHAHAHA!

Chapter 3

Rehash

The gondola slowly reached the shore with the help of the pole in the old man's hands. As soon as the boat hit the rough sand, the ferryman wordlessly beckoned his costumers to hop out. When they did, he tilted his hat in a silent farewell and pushed himself and the gondola back into the sea.

Naruto and his comrades turned away from the ferryman who was growing smaller with each passing wave to face a new obstacle—

—a very high cliff.

"Wow…" Sakura muttered breathlessly, more to herself than anyone else.

Naruto craned his neck back to look for its peak, but could see none. "And how do you plan on getting up there?" he asked Kakashi impatiently.

Sasuke looked at Naruto as if he had grown another head. "You seriously don't know?" he asked incredulously.

Naruto crossed his arms. "Well…should I?" _I hate it when Sasuke-ano does that to me…Teme, thinking he knows everything…I bet he enjoys making me feel stupid._

Sasuke shook his head and turned away muttering under his breath. "Baka…"

Naruto glared at him. "Teme!"

"Sakura, would you like to explain to Naruto how we'll get up there?" Kakashi suggested.

"Ah! Sure thing, Sensei!" Sakura smiled excitedly and turned to Naruto. "All we have to do is center our chakara on the soles of our feet and climb up! It's that simple!"

Naruto gulped. _'Simple' she calls it? Well, yeah, I'm sure this kind of thing is 'simple' for Sakura-chan, but…_Chills were sent up his back as he remembered his last experience trying to climb up something using only tendrils of chakara on the bottom of his feet. He had been showing off when the first incident occurred.

Flashback 1

The team had been outside training—trying to center their chakara to their feet so they could climb up a very tall tree without using their hands. Once they couldn't go any higher, they would take out a kunai and slash it against the tree to mark the distance they had gotten to.

Naruto was finally able to climb up to a very high branch when he caught Sakura and Kakashi's attention. As he had been climbing, Naruto planned a joke. To Naruto's disappointment, Sasuke was out training somewhere else and was no where to be found. All well, it was Sasuke's loss for not being there to see Naruto's 'joke.

As soon as he got to his preferred branch, he started waving insanely to Sakura and Kakashi, looking like a total moron. Then, with a very swift motion, Naruto pretended to wave too hard and fall backwards. Both Kakashi and Sakura yelled in surprise/horror—but then stopped short. Naruto had shifted his chakara in an instant and his feet clung to the bottom of the branch, making him hang upside-down.

Grinning foolishly, he gave them thumbs and shouted, "Ha! Fooled you!" and laughed. But while he was gloating, he forgot about focusing on his feet. The chakara in his feet shifted again and he could feel his feet leave the branch. It was _definitely_ a slow-motion moment.

"Ahhhhhhhhh!" he yelled.

Kakashi and Sakura just had _'Baka! Only an idiot would do something that stupid!'_ and '_This can't be good…'_ looks on their faces.

But something happened. It was as fast as a twitch and took only a second, but Naruto's plunge from the tree had suddenly stopped. Instead, he was dangling headfirst by his ankle from Sasuke's vice-like grip. Where the hell did he come from?

"Sasuke-anou!" Naruto shouted once he remembered how to breathe.

Sasuke looked worried, angry, and relieved all at the same time. "You dobe! What the hell were you thinking! Were you _trying_ to kill yourself! If I hadn't gotten here in time, you would have been flattened!"

"It…it w-was all part of m-my plan!" Naruto yelled, not wanting to look stupid in front of his teammates.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Ya know, dobe, you'd be more convincing if you didn't stutter…"

"It was!" Naruto yelled again loud enough for Sakura and Kakashi to hear.

A small (Very small) smile etched across Sasuke's pale face. His tight grip on Naruto's ankle loosened, causing Naruto to slip an inch from Sasuke's grasp.

"Yahhhhhhhhh!" Naruto cried out again, flailing his arms around in front of him. Sasuke tightened his grip again as he felt Naruto slide down further from him.

"Baka…" Sasuke laughed. (Yes, he laughed! Laughed! Well…actually, it was more of a chuckle, but don't ruin my fun! …Or any of the other crazed fan-girls' fun for that matter).

"Sasuke, teme, you tease!" Naruto yelled. "Let me down! Or do you plan on letting me hang here all day?"

"You want to be let down, Naruto?" Sasuke replied gently.

"Yes! All of the blood is rushing to my head and I'm getting dizzier than usual and I'm kinda hungry—AND! …I have to pee…" Naruto whimpered.

Sasuke's pathetic excuse of a smile widened. _If that's what he wants…_he thought slyly. Suddenly, he released Naruto's ankle completely. That's when he realized how sweaty his hand had gotten.

Naruto's yell echoed throughout the forest they had been training in as he fell. In a flash, Sasuke was below him. The blond fell into his arms as Sasuke descended to the ground.

Naruto was too dizzy to get what was going on, so when he and Sasuke safely reached the ground, he didn't realize Sakura pulling him out of the raven-haired genin's arms so she could throw her arms around Sasuke.

Naruto's senses returned to him when he hit the ground. When he looked up, he saw Sakura glomping (hugging tightly) Sasuke, and Sasuke trying to pry her off of him.

"Sasuke-kun! You're a hero!" she cried out, squeezing him even tighter.

"Get…off…_now_!" he growled through clenched teeth.

End Flashback 1

The other incident was just as humiliating, but that time, it had just been Naruto and Sasuke.

A/N: Am I still doing this right? Heh, anyway, hope you like it! If anyone cares, the next chappy will be up soon!


	4. Free Falling

A/N: Okay, hey people! I don't remember if what happens in this chapter really happened...or if me or a friend of mine came up with it. It's been so long since I've seen these episodes…Heh, whatever! SasuNaru if you tilt your head. Sorry if you don't like—if you want changes, tell me I and I'll see what I can do!

* * *

Chapter 4

Free Falling

Flashback 2

Naruto breathed heavily as he sagged against a tree. He looked over at his partner, who was just as wiped out.

Sasuke leaned over, putting his hands on his knees. His chest was heaving, too. The Uchiha seemed to glow in the moon's light.

In front of each of them was a tree that had scratches running up the sides from kunai. Sasuke and Naruto were determined to master the ability to direct chakara to a certain part of your body to enhance that limb's power. Sakura, being the smartest ninja in Team 7's group, had pretty much mastered the skill the day that Kakashi introduced them to it.

Both of the chunins (genin at the time) had woken up at dawn. They ate breakfast in a blur and went outside to train more. Ever since then, they had both continued their relentless pace. Inch by inch, they slowly ascended their tree.

Naruto sat up once he managed to catch his breath and restore a little chakara. Then he heard someone calling his name.

"Naruto!" Sasuke called. "You ready to turn in for the day, yet?"

Naruto's head shook slightly. "No way! Not 'til I reach the top!"

In the wan light, Naruto could see Sasuke smile. "Good." he said.

Naruto smiled back before readying himself to plunge up the tree again. When he looked over his shoulder at Sasuke again, he saw that his friend was already half way up the tree. A low curse escaped Naruto's lips as he, too, started running up the tree. Sasuke was already out of Naruto's sight by the time Naruto had gotten to the point Sasuke had been at.

_Did he fall?_ Naruto thought. _No…he got to the top!_ He gasped as the realization sunk in. Anger welled up inside of him as a burst of speed sent him higher up the tree.

_I won't let him be better than me!_

His other marks were far below him as he continued to run

_I have to get to the top!_

The wind whipped his blond hair around his face, covering his eyes and obscuring his vision.

_I have to show him!_

He clenched his fists and tried to speed up, but felt himself slowing.

_I'm not the loser he thinks I am!_

He saw out of the corner of his eyes that the branches were thinning. That only renewed Naruto's determination and he put on another burst of speed.

_I have to!_

He squeezed his eyes shut to help him concentrate.

_Oh no…_

He couldn't go any further. He was exhausted, and he just wanted to stop, not caring that stopping meant falling about 70 feet. Despair was seeping through Naruto's veins along with extreme fatigue. Then he couldn't feel anything at all. Not the tree trunk he had gotten used to walking on, but plain air. Naruto stopped, expecting to feel the familiar falling sensation…but it never came.

Naruto opened his eyes. All he saw was the sky…the dark, star-filled night sky. He breathed in the cool night air. The air was so fresh and crisp—it was wonderful! But…maybe it was too wonderful. Naruto could only think of one explanation for all of this…

"Did I…die?" he whispered to himself. Yeah. That was the only explanation. He _had_ fallen after all…and died.

A sudden laugh behind him made him jump.

"No, dobe…you didn't die." Naruto turned around. Sasuke was in the tree next to his, sitting on the highest branch.

"S-Sasuke-anou?"

Sasuke chuckled again. "Congratulations. You made it to the top."

"I-I…did?" A bright smile spread over Naruto's sweaty face. The very sight made Sasuke smile, too.

"Yeah. Now sit down before you fall. You don't look too stable right now."

Naruto, not having the energy to argue, collapsed onto the branch he was standing on immediately. He gulped in the refreshing air, aware that Sasuke hadn't taken his eyes away from him.

"Naruto…?" he said.

But Naruto could hardly hear him. He had used way too much chakara and he knew it. He was falling asleep…or maybe he was losing consciousness, he didn't know. But apparently Sasuke did.

"Naruto!" he said loudly.

"Sasuke…anou…" Naruto murmured breathlessly. Then, everything went black and he finally felt that falling feeling he'd been expecting.

* * *

Sasuke watched in horror as Naruto started to fall from the branched in what seemed like slow-motion. He willed his body to move—to do something, anything!—to save Naruto, but he was frozen in shock. Everything went numb as he witnessed Naruto falling from almost 100 feet in the air. 

_No! Move, MOVE! I can't let him die, he can't die! _

"Naruto!" he cried out. Luckily, that seemed to bring back the feeling in his body. Without thinking about the consequences, without thinking about anything at all except saving Naruto, Sasuke leapt off of his branch and followed Naruto as he fell as well.

He knew that if he didn't do this right, both he and Naruto would die. Sasuke leaned in to go faster, but he was still far from Naruto. He summoned every ounce of chakara left in his body and finally sped up enough to reach Naruto.

The ground was getting closer.

Sasuke stretched his arm out and grabbed Naruto's wrist, bringing the blond closer. Wrapping his other arm around Naruto's waist and making sure Naruto was securely against him, Sasuke groped for a stray branch. Finally finding one, Sasuke wrapped his arm tighter around Naruto and grabbed the branch, swinging himself backwards onto the branch.

He glanced down at the blond in his arms.

_He has a fever…_Sasuke thought worriedly. _But that has to wait. I need to get him down. Dammit! I knew this was a bad idea! Why the hell did I agree on this! You'd better hold on, dobe. _

Sasuke looked down. _Only about 20 more feet to go. I can do this, no problem._ He took a deep breath and jumped down to a branch a few feet below them. Using this tactic, Sasuke managed to get Naruto down slowly.

* * *

Once they were safely on the ground, Sasuke held his friend in his arms and felt his forehead. To his chagrin, it was dangerously hot. 

Naruto whimpered.

"Naruto!" Sasuke said as he patted Naruto's cheeks, trying to wake him up.

"Guu…"

"Naruto!" yelled the Uchiha. He gently shook Naruto, causing another whimper to escape Naruto's lips.

"S-Sasuke-anou…teme…" he stirred. Despite his worry, Sasuke laughed. He would've given anything to hear what he just heard. In response, a smile creeped its way along Naruto face.

"You dobe. Wake up, now. You had me worried."

Naruto's gleaming blue eyes opened up and stared up at Sasuke. The night just seemed to brighten up.

"Put…me down…teme!" Naruto thrashed around, trying to free himself from Sasuke's arms.

"Alright! Alright…Can you stand?" Sasuke tenderly put Naruto on the ground. Naruto opened his mouth to answer, but moaned when Sasuke stood him upright. The blond swayed unsteadily before tipping over. He would've fallen on his butt if Sasuke hadn't been there to catch and steady him.

Naruto swore under his breath for being so fragile but Sasuke just brought a steadying arm around Naruto's waist and gently but firmly pulled Naruto's left arm around his own shoulders. Sasuke shifted Naruto's weight so that he was carrying all of it.

"Sasuke…anou…" he gasped, "I'm not a…cripple…"

"Dobe…just let me carry you…" Sasuke panted from the extra weight and the lack of chakara.

"Where…are we going?"

"Back to the house. You have a fever, and you need rest."

* * *

"I wonder what's taking Sasuke-kun and Naruto so long. Are they _still_ out training?" Sakura said with worry as she prodded her food. Her two teammates had skipped lunch to train, and now Sakura feared that they were going to skip dinner, too. 

The bridge builder and Kakashi looked up from their meals. The bridge builder (crap, what was his name?) opened his mouth to say something but stopped when a small click echoed through the room.

Everyone looked over at the sliding door. Suddenly it flew open to reveal a ragged looking Sasuke carrying an even more ragged Naruto. They staggered through the doorframe.

"Yo!" Naruto wheezed.

"Sasuke-kun! Naruto!" Sakura stood up.

"Hey…" Sasuke replied weakly.

"What happened?" Kakashi asked as he rushed over to their side.

Naruto tried to step over the frame of the door but tripped and stumbled. Since he was clinging to Sasuke, Sasuke tripped to. They both fell to the ground.

"Shit!" Naruto yelled.

"You dobe!" Sasuke shouted at Naruto.

Then everyone laughed at the two boys arguing on the floor.

End Flashback 2

* * *

ta-dah! how was it? am i updating fast enough? ugh! i'm having writer's block! . someone help me! well, what ever...i'm already on the 8th chapter! i didnt know i could type that fast! O.o...In the chapter 5 and 6, there is an annoying and evil sea gull...he dies...or does he? i dont know if i should bring him back in the story...like right when Naruto is...wait, that wasnt a spoiler was it? ok, i have to stop now before i ruin it all for you...

cookies for anyone who reviews!


	5. Up, Up, and Away!

A/N: Hey y'all! Okay, here's chapter 5, and yup, I haven't forgotten about blue-genjitsu! This chapter is dedicated to you! You rock, girl! Anymore readers who leave awesome comments may get a chapter dedicated to them, too!

By the way, I added more hints of SasuNaru for blue-genjitsu in Sasuke's POV!

* * *

Chapter 5

Up, Up and Away!

Yeah. Those were pretty bad times. Naruto shivered again as he gazed up at the high cliff in front of them. Did they really have to climb that? It was just so…high…

As if reading his very thoughts, Sasuke turned to Naruto.

"You scared, dobe?"

"Uh? Eh? No way!"

"Don't worry, dobe. If trouble finds you, I'll save you." A smirk crossed the Uchiha's face as he gazed down at Naruto. Naruto was so much fun to play with.

"Teme! Stop making fun of me!" Naruto punched Sasuke's arm.

"Naruto, don't hit Sasuke-kun!" Sakura hit Naruto over the head.

"Yahhhhhhhhh!" Naruto clutched his head. "That hurt, Sakura-chaaannn!"

Kakashi sighed. "Let's focus on the cliff, okay…?" The trio turned to the towering cliff before them.

Naruto gulped. That was the last thing he wanted to do.

* * *

The Uchiha inwardly laughed at Naruto's fear. The blond obviously hadn't noticed the change of color in Sasuke's eyes. They were red. Naruto was so ignorant sometimes. But that was the way Sasuke liked it. Heehee…

Ya see, Sasuke had a little secret…

He always knew what was going on in Naruto's mind.

When Sasuke first met Naruto, the boy always seemed happy. Way too happy. The blond annoyed Sasuke like no other. That reason alone made Naruto stand out from everyone else.

Sasuke started watching Naruto…not stalking, but often the raven haired boy caught himself staring at the blond. Sasuke found out a lot of things about him that he never noticed before.

The first and most obvious thing Sasuke noticed was Naruto's eyes. Yeah, that's really corny and so cliché that I wanna gag, but his eyes were amazing. The purest of blue that always seemed to make a room brighter.

Those were eyes someone could easily get lost in…Sasuke knew first hand.

Another thing was that everyone in the ninja academy either bullied Naruto or just plain ignored him. Maybe that was why Naruto craved everyone's attention and respect.

Once, when Sasuke 'happened' to be going down the same hallway as Naruto, he saw Kiba come out of nowhere and slam Naruto into a wall.

"Watch where you're going, you idiot!" Kiba yelled.

"Are you retarded? You ran into me, you giant lump!" Naruto shouted back as he flipped Kiba the finger. This really pissed Kiba off.

"What was that?" Kiba punched Naruto in the stomach. Curses flew from Naruto's mouth as he doubled over.

"Piece of shit…" Kiba then kneed Naruto in the stomach.

Sasuke couldn't take it. Watching Naruto being beaten was really starting to irate him. Trying to keep his cool, Sasuke strutted over to Kiba.

As the older boy punched Naruto in the jaw, Sasuke lost all trace of calmness that he was able to spare from before. Taking a deep breath, Sasuke grabbed Kiba's shoulder and turned him around. Now they were face to face.

"What-the-hell-do-you-think-you're-doing?" Sasuke shouted at the stunned genin.

"Oh…Hey Sasuke…" Kiba said in surprise.

"Answer me, dammit!"

"Nuh…?" Kiba looked shocked.

Naruto looked up at Sasuke with those dazzling eyes. The Uchiha's breath hitched and he looked away. But Naruto didn't avert his gaze. Why the hell would Sasuke be doing something caring? And why for Naruto?

"What do you care, Sasuke?" Naruto meekly asked.

Kiba glared at the boy huddled against the wall the returned his attention to Sasuke.

"Yeah, Sasuke, what _do_ you care?"

Sasuke's face hardened. "I don't. I just think it's pointless to waste your energy on Naruto." Kiba looked down at the blond and crinkled his nose, nodding.

"You're right. Well, I don't see any reason to stay here. See ya, Sasuke!" Then he turned and left.

Which meant Naruto and Sasuke were alone…

"You alright?" Sasuke spun around to Naruto.

"Fine…" he mumbled back. Sasuke held out a hand to Naruto—which Naruto stared at dumbly. He gave Sasuke a questioning look. Sasuke sighed and grabbed Naruto's wrist. Using a strong arm to pull him up, Sasuke examined the other boy. He shook his head in disbelief.

"Naruto, why the hell would you aggravate Kiba when you knew he was just going to kick your ass?"

Naruto shrugged. "I dunno…he was asking for it…"

Chuckling, he steadied Naruto upright and muttered, "Dobe."

Naruto looked taken aback for a second, before he glared at Sasuke. "Teme!"

That's basically how the whole 'Dobe' 'Teme' thing started. But that's not the point! The point is that Naruto was bullied…a lot. But his smile never faded. Well not normally it didn't. But those smiles were fake Sasuke later found out. It made Sasuke livid to think that Naruto would have to ever fake a smile.

But something else intrigued Sasuke. The fact was that Naruto reminded Sasuke of himself. Funny…huh? Never thought that would happen, did you?

It's like…Naruto didn't really have a reason. No one had ever given him a reason to be alive. Not one person. Nobody is ever born with a reason to live. You have to find it on your own, later in life. It'll come at you anytime, in any form. Sometimes it could be an object, or an action, or even a person. Naruto just hasn't found his yet.

And neither has Sasuke.

But Sasuke had many things that Naruto didn't. He had people who would do anything for him (namely his fangirls). Naruto had no one. Because of that, Sasuke felt strangely protective over Naruto. Whenever Naruto got himself into trouble whether it was falling from trees or being attacked by psychotic birds, Sasuke always made sure that he was right there behind Naruto to bail him out of the trouble.

Sasuke hated it whenever Naruto was anything but content. His sham smiles weren't good enough. Sasuke wanted Naruto to be truly happy. Whenever he had the chance, Sasuke looked into Naruto's mind to see if he was really happy or not.

So whether Naruto was embarrassed, or excited, or angry…or sad…Sasuke knew.

Ever since Sasuke had met Naruto, the only time he had ever sensed genuine happiness from Naruto was after the battle with Haku and Zabuza. It was right after Sasuke had regained consciousness. The blonds' eyes flashed brighter than Sasuke had ever seen them.

Now, Sasuke felt an overwhelming fear inside Naruto.

* * *

"Here goes nothing!" Sakura said cheerfully. Then, both she and Kakashi charged at the cliff and started to run up it.

"You sure you're fine, Naruto?" Sasuke turned to look at the shivering blond.

"Stuff it already! This'll be easy, so stop babying me! I'm not as bad of a ninja as you think I am!" Naruto shouted as he tried to suppress a shiver.

Sasuke didn't say anything else, but glanced over at Naruto once more before he followed suit after Sakura and Kakashi.

* * *

"Okay…This is nothing…I won't fall, I can do this! Yeah! Ja ne! Believe it!" Naruto grinned with confidence then concentrated on directing his chakara to his feet and flew at the cliff. The next second, he felt the old feeling of running up something again as he advanced on his friends.

Kakashi was way ahead of them, but Naruto saw his two friends on either side of him. Guilt washed over Naruto like a tidal wave. He promised that he wouldn't hold them back. Before saying anything, he re-adjusted his 'mask'.

"Go ahead! Don't worry about me! This is easy!" Naruto shouted to them, grinning.

Sakura winked. "Okay! See you at the top!" Then she sped up and caught up with Kakashi.

Naruto turned to Sasuke. "You too, Sasuke-anou! I'll see meet you up there!"

"You sure, Naruto? I don't really mind staying behind a little…"

"Liar. You mind and I know it." Naruto grinned.

Sasuke growled and turned his head.

"I'll be fine! I told you to stop babying me!"

Sasuke glared at Naruto. "Whatever," he huffed. "Do what you want." Then he left Naruto's side, too.

* * *

Sasuke reached the top of the cliff in no time without that dobe holding him back. At the top, a forest lay between the ninjas and the Village hidden in the Mist. It was very misty and green. Basically, it looked like a swamp. Overall, it was very eerie. shiver

Sakura and Kakashi were already there, of course. Kakashi had pulled out his book and was leaned against a tree reading it…or something….

Sakura ran up to Sasuke when he appeared. "Sasuke-kun! There you are! …Where's Naruto?"

Sasuke ignored her and searched the side of the cliff, looking for an orange-clad blond. He couldn't find any.

"Sasuke-kun…? Where is he?" Sakura strolled over to Sasuke's side. She peered over the cliff, too.

"How the hell should I know?" Sasuke snapped.

Sakura looked away. "I…don't know…" Regretting she said anything, she kicked a rock over the cliff.

"Are you mad at me now?" she asked Sasuke timidly. When Sasuke didn't say anything, she sauntered back to where Kakashi was.

Suddenly a screech and a yelp punctured the gloomy silence. Sakura and Kakashi dashed to where Sasuke was surveying the cliff's edge. He leaped up when he heard the noise. When the team looked down the side, they couldn't believe their eyes.

It was Naruto. But he was being attacked by …

…a seagull…

* * *

A/N: How was it? I hope you liked it, blue-genjitsu!

Cookies for all who review!


	6. Gravity Sucks

A/N: Hey people! Sorry for the wait, but here's the next chapter! It has another memory in it, sorry! The whole story was only supposed to have 2 memories total and this is now the 4th, so I don't know what my problem is…But this memory is sad…This chapter is dedicated to kellyQ! Thanks for the awesome reviews! Now read! 

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Chapter 6

Gravity Sucks…

'_It was Naruto. But he was being attacked by …_

…_a seagull…'_

…sweat drop

Naruto was flying up the cliff as fast as he could while ducking and covering his head with one of his arms. With the other, he was trying to strike the gull.

"Go away! Damn bird, get away from me!" Sasuke could hear him yelling.

Kakashi burst out laughing at the strange sight while Sakura became irritated. "That idiot! What's he doing?"

Kakashi turned to Sakura, clutching his side. "I believe he's being harassed by a seagull." Then he continued to laugh.

Sasuke clenched his fists. "Only Naruto…" He shook his head.

"Dobe…" he muttered.

At that moment, the dobe abruptly lost his balance and fell backward. The seagull laughed evilly and clawed at Naruto. Naruto kept tumbling down the cliff's edge, plummeting further towards the jagged rock-strewn bottom. (Of course sigh)

"Naruto!" Sakura cried out. Kakashi stopped laughing and immediately readied himself to jump off the cliff. But Sasuke was faster. He was already prepared for this kind of thing happening to Naruto. In fact, Sasuke had been expecting it. sweat drop

Before Kakashi had even moved, Sasuke was flying down the face of the sea cliff. As Sasuke neared Naruto, the sea gull came after him, too. Sasuke swore, but ignored it. Right then, Naruto was his main priority.

But at that moment, his main priority was falling out of his reach. Stupid birds…if this damn gull wasn't in his way, Sasuke could get to Naruto. That's when he decided that he had to be ruthless if he was going to save Naruto. And that's exactly what he was. When the gull pecked at his nose, Sasuke took out a kunai and flung it at the bird.

The gull figured out what was going on, and at the last second, dived to the left. Unfortunately for the bird, he was too slow for Sasuke's supremacy (LoL) and the kunai clipped its wing.

And so, the annoying gull dropped like a bag full of overweight Mexican jumping beans, laughing hysterically, before dramatically smashing into the ocean.

And that was the end of the maddening sea gull. But if you've been a bad boy/girl/thing, then late at night, when you're peacefully asleep, an annoying screech will wake you…and the Sea Gull will come back to irritate the living hell out of you. Beware the bird…

dramatic music Dun dun dun…

Wow, that was pointless…

* * *

"Naruto! Naruto, wake up!" Sasuke shouted. He was finally able to snatch Naruto after that damn gull dropped, but Naruto was out cold and Sasuke had to lug the blond ninja to the top of the cliff. But he wouldn't wake up. Sakura and Kakashi were kneeling next to the two boys on the ground. 

"Dammit, Naruto!" Sasuke started to shake him. "Why couldn't you just let me stay with you? Why did you have to turn me away? This wouldn't have happened if I just stayed behind with you…"

"Sasuke-kun…he'll be alright. He must've just bumped his head! He'll wake up…okay?" Sakura laid a comforting hand on the Uchiha's broad shoulder. Sasuke ignored it and continued to try and shake his comrade awake. Sakura sighed in defeat.

"Sakura, Sasuke has a point…" Kakashi told them—well, more to Sakura than to Sasuke since Sasuke wasn't listening. "Trouble always seems to find Naruto. It's never us, but…I suppose he's just unlucky…"

Sasuke was vaguely listening, and couldn't help but agree with Kakashi. Naruto constantly had his work cut out for him.

Like back in the academy…

"Sasuke!" Naruto called from the bottom of the ladder. Sasuke always ate his lunch on the roof of a classroom. He had never told anyone about doing that, but Naruto found out. Apparently Naruto ate his lunch up there, too because the blond had once walked in on Sasuke during lunch hour.

Now it was lunch again, and Sasuke was trying to have a peaceful lunch…which was impossible with Naruto calling out to him.

"Sasuke!" he called again. "Answer me before I throw something at your head!"

Sasuke peeked over the edge. "You really are annoying, you know that?"

"Sasuke teme! You are up there!"

"You dobe! You didn't even know for sure if I was up here or not? Then why were you calling for me?"

"Don't call me dobe, teme! Sasuke no meanie…" Naruto pouted.

Sasuke sighed. "Whatever…just get up here."

Naruto's face instantly lit up. "Really?"

Sasuke smiled back, but his head disappeared from the side of the roof. Naruto grabbed his lunch and climbed up the ladder. But seeing as how his lunch was in his hands, Naruto fell on his butt as he tried to ascend the steps.

Sasuke looked over the rim of the roof again at the sound of a crash.

"What happened?"

"Nothing…Just…fell. Aheh."

Naruto could hear Sasuke sigh. "Well get up!"

"I am! Just hold on…"

Sasuke could hear him scrambling up the ladder. Soon Naruto made it to the top with one hand holding his lunch.

"It's about time!" Sasuke said impatiently.

"You could've helped me out!"

"I know." Sasuke smirked.

"Sasuke teme!" Then Naruto punched Sasuke playfully.

Then the two boys ate their lunch, trading what they had and sharing what they didn't…or something…(?)

When they had finished, they cleaned up and descended the ladder. Together they walked back to the classroom.

_Where is everyone?_ Sasuke thought looking around. The hallway was deserted._ We must be early…_

But as Sasuke and Naruto neared their classroom, they saw that they weren't alone. The room was filled with students, all crowded around a certain area. When Naruto and Sasuke walked through the door, everyone turned to stare at Naruto.

"Uh…? Hey guys?" Naruto said cautiously. "What's up?"

Students glance at one another, some whispered to the one next to them, while others just plain stared at Naruto. It was overall very suspicious…and Sasuke was getting impatient!

"What's going on?" Sasuke demanded. When no one answered, he grabbed Naruto's wrist and tried to push his way through the mob of people.

The crowd tore apart to let him and Naruto through. When Naruto and Sasuke reached the center, they stopped in their tracks. Before them was a total mess…

…Better known as what was Naruto's desk. (Hey, that rhymes! )

It was in pieces—papers were scattered everywhere, the bars were mangled together, his desk was flipped over on it's side…Sasuke could see from where he was standing that someone had spray-painted all over the top of the desk. He could vaguely make out writing on it. Striding over to the turmoil, Sasuke tipped the desk over so he could read what was written on it. As soon as he did, he regretted ever touching it.

He could hear Naruto gasp as he, too, read what was written on his desk.

'Go to hell!'

"Who did this?" Sasuke asked in a deadly tone.

Whispers traveled around the room. Sasuke spun around and repeated himself.

"Who did this!"

Suddenly Naruto turned on his heel and left the room. The now silent class watched him go. Sasuke glanced around the room at his fellow classmates before he followed his friend.

"Naruto, wait!" he called.

But the blond didn't wait. He kept dashing down the hall. Sasuke ran after him.

"I said wait!" Sasuke caught up with Naruto, grabbed him, and spun him around. Naruto's complexion made Sasuke struggle for breath. Naruto's usually bright blue eyes were hazy and dim. The hurt boy looked up at him. Strangely, he just smiled faintly.

But it wasn't his typical happy-go-lucky carefree smile. It was sad, sullen, and tormented. That hysterical smile along with those eyes was just plain heart-rending, ya know? His words were even more chilling and came out as a whisper.

"Sasuke…they're right…" His faded eyes became watery and his lips quivered as he spoke, but his smile stayed. "I should just die, shouldn't I?"

"Shut up, Naruto!"

Naruto gazed up at Sasuke, afraid that he might hate him, too. Sasuke realized this, and changed his expression to a softer one.

"Naruto…you can't die…Please don't die…"

Naruto hung his head and closed his eyes. "Why shouldn't I?"

Sasuke hesitated for a moment, before taking a deep breath and wrapped his arms around the blond. "'Cuz if you did, I'd be sad."

Naruto stiffened at the touch, but sank into Sasuke and hugged him back. His creepy smile vanished and tears rolled down his cheeks. He couldn't hold it in anymore, and his tears started to fall freely and continuously.

"Sasuke!" he sobbed, clutching Sasuke's shirt. "Why does everyone hate me?"

Sasuke held Naruto closer. "They don't…"

"They do!"

"…I don't…"

Naruto became rigid again when Sasuke said that. Looking up at the Uchiha, he timidly asked, "You don't?"

Sasuke's face was guarded, but he shook his head and hugged him tighter. Naruto tried to hold back a whimper and buried his face into Sasuke's chest…before remembering that this was Sasuke…Sasuke _Uchiha_! Naruto tensed again and tried to pull away. What's going on!

When Naruto withdrew from Sasuke, Sasuke looked down at him.

_I can't believe it…I was crying again…Why, why? Why do I have to be so weak! I swore to myself I won't cry anymore, that no one would ever see me cry again! And I go and cry in front of Sasuke…I can't believe it…After all this time…I just can't believe. Who's Sasuke to make me break my promise! Dammit it all!_

Realizing he had just broken his vow made Naruto cry even harder.

"Are you alright, now?" he asked.

Naruto didn't answer, but stopped crying, looked away and nodded. He was blushing.

"So you won't kill yourself?"

Naruto shook his head this time. Sasuke smiled.

"Maybe you should go home for today…I don't think our sensei would mind…"

Naruto shrugged.

Sasuke sighed. All of this not talking crap was really pissing him off.

"What are you, a mime?"

Naruto shrugged again.

"Whatever…"

Sasuke grabbed Naruto's arm and led him to the exit of the school. After that day, Naruto started calling Sasuke 'anou'. He still called him teme, but not as often. And even though what had happen was horrible, Naruto was still happy it had happened. It had given both, he and Sasuke a reason to be there. Naruto knew that if he died, he would make someone miserable. And Sasuke knew that if he died, someone else would die, too.

Both found a reason that day.

* * *

Naruto felt a burning pain in his head. The stupid pain wouldn't leave him alone, and it was dragging him out of his dark reverie. 

"Dammit…"

"Naruto!" came a shrill voice. "Kakashi-sensei! He's finally waking up!"

Naruto felt one of his eyes being forced open. Aggravated, he swatted the hand away.

"Wake up, Naruto." This voice belonged to Kakashi. "We don't have much time to get to the Village hidden in the Mist."

Naruto slowly opened an eye. Standing over him was his team.

"How'd I get here?" His memory finally coming back to him, he looked up eagerly.

"Wait, so I made it up the cliff?"

Sakura shook her head. "Sasuke-kun had to drag you up here."

"What!" Naruto yelled angrily.

"Yep…" said a voice from behind him. Naruto felt a pair of strong arms sliding under his and firmly pulling him up. "You're such a dobe. How could you let a _sea gull_ get the best of you?"

"Sasuke-anou!" Naruto leapt out of his arms. "Teme! That damn bird just made me lose my balance!"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Then why were you unconscious when I caught you?"

"I hit my head, okay?"

"Are you alright now, Naruto?" Kakashi asked.

Naruto turned to Kakashi. "Eh?…Um…Yeah, I guess…" He rubbed the back of his head, but stopped when he felt a bump. He shrugged. He'd been given worse injuries.

"Okay then. Let's get on with the mission, shall we?"

"Yeah!" Naruto punched the air with his fist. "Let's go!"

Sakura sighed. "Naruto, two seconds ago you were knocked out and now you're ready to go through a forest? Geez…" she scolded.

Naruto ignored her. He and Kakashi started walking towards the rim of the murky forest.

"And you haven't even thanked Sasuke-kun for saving your sorry—" Naruto froze at Sakura's words.

"Let's get going." Sasuke cut her off.

"Sasuke-kun…? Well, okay…" She ran to catch up with the boys who were already trudging into the forest. This forest was the only thing that lay between them and the Village hidden in the Mist. Yay! Or not!


	7. To Be Blessed With The Grace Of A Duck

A/N: Heehee…'some ki-ichigo fungi roam in this forest'…bursts out laughing LOL! Heehee…I couldn't think of anything else to name fungi. BTW! heh heh, this chapter is pretty short, sorry!

Chapter 7

To Be Blessed With the Grace of a Duck

"How much further is it?" Naruto whined. He was tired of this forest already. There were so many damn trees to bump in to!

"Don't be a baby…" Sasuke gracefully climb over an enlarged tree branch.

"I'm not a baby! I'm just tired of running in to things!"

"We should be almost out." Kakashi reassured the blond.

"Good. I could really use some ramen…" Naruto clutched his stomach as he tried to clamber over a fallen tree. As you can imagine, this didn't turn out too well. Kakashi glanced at Naruto and sighed.

"Naruto…at least try to be vigilant…"

Naruto tilted his head. "Sure, but…why?"

Kakashi sighed again. "Because…if anyone was in a 5 mile radius of you, you'd attract their attention…and the closer we get to the village, the more likely we'll run into someone. If that happens, I'm sure it would escalade into a fight. Besides, some ki-ichigo fungi roam in this forest, if they hear us, they'll come after us. And I'd rather avoid fighting until we reach the village."

"Oh…" Naruto tried to stealthily scramble over a root. Even though stealthy and scramble don't go together, he did it. Yay…cookies for everyone…

Sakura glanced at Naruto. "Did you really have to wear orange? It's just so…bright! I'm sure people a mile away can see you!"

"I-I didn't have time to change before the mission…" Naruto looked at the ground. The cold, hard reality was that…orange was all he had. No one in Kohana would sell him anything decent for a ninja. Naruto's whole wardrobe was filled with orange. The store owners probably hoped it would be the cause of Naruto's demise…

Naruto was overcome with sadness that so many people would want him to die…

But he shook that feeling, altered his 'mask', and smiled. He'd show those people that Uzamaki Naruto wouldn't die so easily. It takes more than cloths to kill him. A flock of sea gulls, maybe…but that's a different story!

But Sasuke and Kakashi managed to glimpse Naruto's depressed expression before he was able to change his 'mask'. Naruto gave them a reassuring smile, forgetting to focus on walking with elegance.

He tripped over a protruding rock and dropped like an egg on a hot day.

"Gah!" Naruto yelled, raising a hand to break the fall. Sasuke cringed, Sakura turned, and Kakashi sighed at the sound of something cracking.

"Yahhhhhhhhh!" Naruto bawled as he cradled his wrist. His teammates rushed over to him, worried.

"Naruto, are you all right?" Sakura asked dumbly.

"Of course he isn't!" Sasuke said pushing her out of the way. He crouched down next to Kakashi, who was softly pushing Naruto's wrist in certain places and asking questions. Sakura watched from behind them.

"Does this hurt?" their sensei asked as he wiggled Naruto's hand in a certain direction.

"Owwwwwww! Yes, it does!" he howled in response. He whipped back his hand reflexively and held it away from Kakashi.

Kakashi worriedly scanned Naruto. Then he shook his head, sighing. "I doubt it's broken, but you defiantly sprained it. We should bandage it." Before Naruto could disagree, Kakashi whipped out a roll of bandages and bound Naruto's wrist.

Patting it slightly, he looked up at Naruto's anxious look and smiled. "It should feel fine in the morning."

Naruto and his team sighed in relief.

"Dobe…" Sasuke smiled and stood up.

Kakashi stood, too, and turned away. Of course his wrist would feel better in the morning. It would be totally healed by then. The fact was that the jonin knew all about Naruto and his curse. Kakashi had fought the nine tailed fox with the other ninjas and witnessed the fox-demon being preserved in the boy that was Naruto.

But unlike the other ninjas, Kakashi didn't shun or hate Naruto because of that seal. Sure, Naruto was hyperactive and annoying sometimes, but he was a good kid at heart who was driven like no other.

Kakashi was actually _surprised_. That boy had to have been through hell, not just from the ninjas who knew about him being possessed but their children as well. If their parents hated Naruto, it was only natural that their kids would, too. But still, Naruto was always happy, always…smiling…

Kakashi shook his head as he remembered the times Naruto was sad. Though the episodes were few and quick, Kakashi was still able to catch them. Sasuke must have noticed them a few times, too. Sasuke wasn't slow.

Naruto did his best to hide the sorrow inside of him. He fooled mostly everyone by playing pranks and being the class jester (I hate clowns shiver).

Yeah, there was never a dull moment around Naruto. But sometimes people just called Naruto's playfulness and lightheartedness just plain annoying. Sometimes, his annoying nature pissed people off. So, they went to pick on him. They would beat him, doing anything they could to hurt him and shut him up.

Which only made Naruto more dejected. And the more miserable he became, the more cheerful he acted.

Kakashi looked back at the boy being scolded by Sakura. He was smiling again. But it was fake. As fake as every other one of his smiles. Sadness was hidden behind those smiles, sadness that had to be caused by years of torment and pain. There had to be something Kakashi could do…but whatever he could do, it would have to wait. They needed to get to the Village hidden in the Mist.

"C'mon, guys. Naruto, if you're feeling better, we should get going. We only have a few hours to get there."

"Yes, sensei!" Sakura cheerfully ran to his side. Sasuke and Naruto followed and they continued to the Village hidden in the Mist.

* * *

A/N: Very short chappy, I know…but hey, I updated right after the other chapter! Right? Aheh…besides I'm working on6 stories right now.

My Reason (Naruto-some yaoi)

Murtagh's Story (Eragon-yaoi)

Truth or Dare: Battle Royale Style! (Battle Royale-yaoi dares)

Our Trip To The Onsen (Kingdom Hearts-slash)

What To Call A Beautiful Woman (Harry Potter-major yaoi, but no slash)

Kudos To You (Harry Potter-Sirius x Remus)

Don't rush me, okay? Next chapter will be better hopefully…sweat drop And for those who are wondering, you'll find out why Naruto shouldn't have gone to the Village hidden in the Mist when his team gets there. That'll probably be chapter 9...or 10…sweat drop LoL! You'll just have to wait, okay?

By the way, here's a small thank you to all who have reviewed!

chibikuro rose-sama

blue-genjutsu

FireieGurl

Zafiro Okami

kellyQ

Morath Isil Durunya

Sesshy's Gurrl


	8. The Art Of Being Confused

A/N: Hey! I have to make this short, okay? There is a yaoi scene in this chapter…the scary thing is that I don't remember writing it…Heh, I was probably sugar-high. I didn't plan on it happening, but I suppose it fits with the story, so yeah…whatever…

* * *

Chapter 8

If You're Him, Who's That Guy?

After what seemed like an eternity of walking (But it was only an hour) the forest started to thin. But the light that was flickering from above the tree-tops was darkening slowly. Suddenly the evil quietness of the forest was interrupted by yet another 'thump' (the kind when something hard collides into something harder)…followed by a howl of pain and frustration.

"Dammit!" Naruto yelled from the ground as he rolled over on his back, careful not to bump his hurt wrist. "If I couldn't avoid the trees and things when both of my arms worked, how can I avoid them with only one of them!"

"Naruto, would you please stop yelling?" Sakura scolded as she helped him get up. "And it's not that hard to evade things that don't move."

"Well, it is when there are a lot of those things to avoid." Naruto regained his balance.

Sasuke rolled his eyes and continued after Kakashi.

"Ah! Sasuke-kun! Wait up!" Sakura left Naruto's side and chased after her other teammate. "Hurry up, Naruto!" she called.

"Ah! Guys, don't leave me!"

Naruto started to run after his friends, but rustling in some bushes to the right of him made him stop.

"Huh?"

Naruto turned and faced the bush making noise.

"What the…hell?"

The rustling stopped for a moment, but then a tree behind Naruto started to rustle, too.

"Oh…I get it…" Naruto smiled as he fingered the handle of a kunai hidden in his sleeve.

"Who ever you are, you think you can sneak up on me from behind? That's the oldest trick in the book! What kind of idiot do you think I am?" Naruto laughed as he flung the kunai from his sleeve into the rustling tree behind him.

"Gotcha!" he yelled in triumph.

After the kunai hit the tree, a high pitched squeal pierced Naruto's laughter.

"?"

The squeal ended and out fell…

…a monkey! XD

"Yah!" Naruto cried out. That wasn't what he had expected. Afraid that he might have hurt the poor, defenseless monkey, Naruto rushed over to it. After digging in the bushes it had fallen in, the blond found the monkey.

To Naruto's relief, the monkey was only spazing out…it wasn't hurt at all. It was just traumatized for life. Ya see…Naruto had a bad habit of either killing poor, innocent animals…or disturbing them for life…

…sweat drop…

After making sure that the monkey was okay, he remembered that he had a mission to finish and his team was WAY ahead of him. What if he got lost? What if he starved? What if he died? He couldn't be a dead Hokage! Oh the trauma! Oh the suspense! Never mind this, Naruto has to catch up!

Just as he was getting up to leave, Naruto heard a many hushed twangs before he felt a sharp pain in his right shoulder and in his back. Red liquid invaded his vision…along with a long and slender stiletto lodged in his shoulder. Many more must've been in his back Blood poured from his shoulder and down his back.

Naruto fell back to his knees and clutched the ground to steady himself. His stomach retched and he could feel and taste more of the warm, red substance pouring from his lips and splattering down his front.

A sharp laugh reached him. He just able to make out someone saying, "Oldest trick in the book, huh? Some ninja you are."

"You bastard…" Naruto could say before his head hit the ground.

More laughter. Then more pain—this time in his side. Naruto screamed as tremors were sent into his ribs and up his spine. He could barely hear the one who had ambushed him laughing over the ringing in his ears.

"Sasuke…" he cried out.

Then there was…nothing.

* * *

"Yahhhhhhhhh!"

Screams echoed through the forest, sending shivers down Sakura's back.

"Kakashi-sensei…what was that? Do you think that scream could have been Naruto?"

"I don't know, Sakura. It could have been. But it also could've been an assassin from the Village hidden in the Mist."

After Naruto's twisted wrist was tended to, the team had left. Only…it had taken them a while to notice that they were missing a member—Naruto.

"Dammit! How could we have lost him?" Sasuke punched a nearby tree, bruising his knuckles.

"We'll find him. We just have to back-track to where we were before." Kakashi reassured him.

"That might take too long! If Naruto met up with an assassin, he'd probably ask him for ramen or something! Argh!" He punched the tree again.

"That dobe!"

"Calm down, Sasuke. I'm right here," came a voice hidden in a random bush. An orange-clad figure rose from a shrub next to the tree Sasuke had been evilly bullying. He smiled and winked at his team.

"Naruto!" Sakura cried out.

"Yo!" he replied cheerfully.

Kakashi was the first to notice that Naruto was covered in…blood.

"You're soaked in blood. And you have stilettos in your back." He commented.

"Huh?" Sakura examined her teammate. He was.

"Naruto, what happened to you!" Sakura demanded. Sasuke didn't say anything, but never took his eyes off of Naruto.

"I was attacked…" Naruto shrugged.

"What!" Sakura yelled.

"By what?" Kakashi asked calmly.

"Some guy. He snuck up on me from behind. I dropped my guard when I almost killed a monkey, and that's how he got the best of me. Heh heh…But I'm fine now…" Naruto pulled out the needle-like knives embedded in his back as he said that.

"Are you sure? I hate to sound heartless, but we really do need to get going." Kakashi had an apologetic look on his face.

"Yeah, let's go!" Naruto flashed them a grin.

And so they traveled deeper into the forest in search of the Village hidden in the Mist.

* * *

(Yaoi)

For a while, the team trekked through the underbrush is silence. Kakashi and Sakura kept looking back at Naruto, while Sasuke avoided looking at him at all costs…which Naruto noticed. So Naruto decided to do something about it.

Checking to make sure that Sakura and Kakashi weren't looking at him, he turned to Sasuke.

"Sasuke…what's wrong?" he asked mischievously.

When no answer came forth, Naruto smiled naughtily and grabbed Sasuke's hand. Pulling gently on it, Naruto's smile widened.

"Why won't you talk to me, Sasu?"

Sasuke twitched at the nickname. Naruto's smile vanished and was replaced with a scowl. He tugged harder on the raven-haired boy's hand, making him stop in his tracks completely. Sasuke turned to Naruto, a glare plastered to his face.

"What's with you! I come back with fricken stilettos stuck in my back and you ignore me!" Suddenly Naruto's face became somber. "Don't…don't I mean anything to you, Sasuke?" Naruto hung his head and sighed. Looking up through his lashes at his comrade, he batted his eyes.

Sasuke's glare darkened.

Naruto's head snapped up. A wicked smile danced around his lips.

"Sasuke…" he purred. Sasuke warily took a step back. Naruto's grip on Sasuke's hand tightened.

**(If you don't like SasuNaru, skip to the next bold part)**

In a simple swift movement, Naruto advanced on Sasuke and dragged the Uchiha closer to him. Standing up on his tippy-toes, Naruto placed his lips on top of Sasuke's. Soft lips mingled with cold ones.

For a moment, everything froze.

But then Sasuke woke back up and drew away from the kiss. His face was contorted into a grimace and he kept trying to back away, but Naruto's hold on his hand kept him firmly in place. Naruto laughed and rose to meet Sasuke's lips again.

"I…missed you…" he whispered into Sasuke's lips. Naruto teasingly brought up his free hand to gently caress Sasuke's cheek and nibbled on his lower lip.

Using his free hand, Sasuke hit Naruto in the jaw. Naruto yelped and withdrew from the kiss in pain. Letting go of Sasuke's hand, Naruto covered his face.

**(Okay, the SasuNaru is over)**

"W-what the…h-hell!" Naruto cried out.

Sasuke's lips quivered as he turned his head and spat out in disgust. His eyes were icy.

"Sasu…" Naruto blinked back tears from the sting.

That was what really pissed Sasuke off. Before Naruto could utter another word, Sasuke whipped out a kunai and ran to Naruto. Grabbing Naruto by the shoulder, he pushed the blond shinobi against a random tree behind them and pressed the kunai against his delicate throat. Surprise spread across Naruto's face.

"Sasuke! What are you doing!" Tears rolled down his cheeks.

Sasuke's breath came in short pants. "What the hell have you done with Naruto?"

* * *

"Dammit! Now we've lost Naruto _and_ Sasuke!" Kakashi scanned the trail they had just taken. He sighed deeply and counted to ten…but didn't stop counting until he reached 32. He sighed again and looked up at the canopy-hidden sky. It was dusk.

Sakura leaned against a tree, worry etched in her face. "Where could they be?"

"I don't know…"

"It's not like Sasuke-kun to go off on his own…well it is, but not when we're in the middle of a forest! Do you think Naruto had anything to do with this?"

Kakashi shrugged. "Probably."

Sakura looked down in despair, but her head snapped back up when she heard noises behind her. She instinctively pulled out a kunai and stooped into a crouching position. Looking over her shoulder at her sensei for further instructions, Sakura saw that Kakashi was in a poised position as well. He had pulled out a dagger and held it between two fingers.

"Stop, Sakura-chan!"

Sakura blinked. She knew that voice.

"Naruto!" she cried out, dropping her guard, along with her kunai.

Kakashi relaxed, but didn't drop his dagger. As he was eyeing the blond boy, he noticed two things that seemed extremely familiar…he was covered in blood and had stilettos sticking out from him in every direction. Hmm…

Talk about dae-sha-voo…or whatever…(how the hell do you spell that!)

Sakura glanced around excitedly. "N-Naruto? A-are you…alone?"

"Huh?" he asked as he started to remove the knives in his back. Blood spurted from the newly opened wounds.

"Sasuke-kun…isn't with you…is he?" Sakura asked, the excitement in her voice starting to fade. It was more of a statement than a question.

"No…he isn't…" Naruto looked around him for the first time, noticing that there was only two of his friends there. "Wait—he's not here! Well, where the hell is he!"

"Naruto, we don't know…Sasuke-kun left with you a little while ago and he never came back."

"Sakura-chan, what are you talking about? I've been fucking knocked out thanks to an ambush! I just now found you guys, and Sasuke-teme isn't even here to see me!"

"…What! Then who went off with Sasuke-kun!" Sakura yelled.

"How do we know this is the real Naruto?" Kakashi gazed at Naruto suspiciously.

Suddenly dread began to dawn on Naruto's face as he seemed to realize something.

"That's right…you could be an imposter!" Sakura leapt backwards, away from Naruto and grabbed her kunai from the ground. Naruto clutched his head and growled in frustration.

"I don't have time for this! Sasuke could be in trouble!" Naruto took out a pair of his own kunai and darted past Sakura and Kakashi. Sakura watched as he scampered through the underbrush. Then he was gone again.

* * *

Ha! Another chappy, just like I promised! They'll probably arrive in the next chapter, and during the 10th chapter is when things get kinda interesting. Heh, I started writing this out of pure boredom and decided to post it. I didn't think anyone would like it, but…I guess I was wrong! Domo! 


	9. Fight Scene Sing Along!

A/N: Yo, people…I've been so depressed lately…It's really out of character for me. I've fallen asleep crying for the last month, so I wrote this out of pure…something… Boredom? Sadness? …Whatever…it doesn't matter. If you don't like random, read until Sasuke tells Naruto to find Kakashi. Please no flames…I can't deal with them right now. Heh, maybe later. Usually flames make me laugh and encourage me to write faster, so what's wrong with me? And sorry I haven't updated in so long! I've been grounded…but now I'm sneaking on, so it's okay!

* * *

Chapter 9

Fight Scene: Sing Along!

"Sasuke-anou! Sasuke, dammit!" Naruto bellowed. Tree branches whipped around him, cutting his arms and legs. Using the kunai in his hands to sever the branches away from his face, he continued his relentless search for his friend.

"Sasuke, where are you!"

Suddenly the trees opened up slightly to reveal a very small enclosure. At once, Sasuke came into Naruto's vision…along with an exact duplicate of Naruto. The imposter was huddled on the floor, cowering with his arms defensively covering his head. His neck was dripping with blood, and Sasuke looked pissed.

In Sasuke's hand was a bloody kunai.

"Sasuke! I…I found you!" Naruto smiled.

Sasuke tensed and whipped around. His hand holding the bloody kunai clenched, but he relaxed once he saw the blond. Suddenly he went rigid again and his eyes gradually changed to red as he summoned the powers of his 'Shaningan'. (Um…O.o, yeah…no spelling flames, please…)

"Sasuke…?" Naruto asked hesitantly. After carefully scrutinizing him, Sasuke closed his eyes, and nodded. A small smile became visible on his pale face.

"You're real…" he whispered.

After gaining his teammates approval, Naruto trotted over to him. A wary grin crept its way onto Naruto's face. A hint of confusion was evident behind it. Sasuke gave his real blond friend a welcoming smile in return.

Naruto glanced down at his replica that was doused in blood. He was trembling. The real Naruto's eyes widened as he looked back up at Sasuke and the kunai in his hands.

"Sasuke…? Sasuke, what happened?" he demanded, all relief vanished from his voice.

"Nothing, Naruto…Don't worry about." Sasuke tossed the kunai to the ground and sauntered over to the real Naruto. Naruto didn't move, but kept his gaze on the imposter.

"Sasuke, what happened!" he repeated more impatiently this time. To Naruto's extreme surprise, Sasuke blushed and shook his head. Grabbing Naruto's uninjured shoulder, he turned the younger shinobi around and started to lead him back to Sakura and Kakashi. That's when a sudden and familiar drone of something slicing through the air stopped them.

Naruto turned to look behind him, but felt a sudden jolt and was pushed to the ground. Looking up, he saw Sasuke clutching his arm. Blood started to drip from his fingers.

"S-Sasuke!"

He could hear the chunin above him chuckling. Then Naruto realized that Sasuke wasn't grasping his arm, but something sticking out from his arm. A kunai. Naruto looked over to where Sasuke had tossed his kunai to the side. It was missing.

A small pop made Naruto and Sasuke turn around. Behind the ninjas, smoke curled around the phony Naruto as it turned back into its original form.

From the smoke rose a young woman who looked no older than 18. Her hair was crimson and fell down to her broad shoulders. She was really tall, and a pack of stilettos were strapped around her thigh. Her voice was deep and she laughed evilly.

It gave Naruto chills as he started to recall that laugh.

Sasuke glanced at his shivering friend from the side, wishing that Naruto had never gotten mixed up in all of this. Returning his attention to the women, he glowered. _This bitch just keeps pissing me off…_he thought as he continued to glare at her.

"Wow…" she swayed as she straightened to her full height. "And you two are actual ninjas? The Land of Fire must be _desperate_ for new shinobi to let idiots like you qualify to be a ninja." She chuckled and glanced at Naruto.

"You really must be retarded to fall for the kind of trick I pulled on you. Letting me sneak up from behind you, knock you out, and then steal your identity…what a loser…But then…," her gazed traveled over to Sasuke. "Your friend is no wiser. Surely he must've realized that I was actually an imposter and not the real deal, but if he was smart at all he would've killed me on the spot."

She laughed again. "But…instead he let me lead him astray and allowed me to…do what I wanted with him…" The red-head grinned evilly.

Sasuke growled.

Naruto looked like his brain just melted. "You did what? O.o?"

"God, you're an idiot!" she scoffed. "He let me kiss him…I'm not gonna spell it out for you. Heh heh, maybe you can get him to explain it to you." A roguish grin spread across her face, revealing pointy teeth.

"S-Sasuke?" Naruto's voice trembled as he turned to the Uchiha. "You kissed her?"

Sasuke's face darkened and his glare intensified. "Naruto, she…I tried to…" Sasuke sighed and turned to Naruto. "I'm so sorry…Naruto, I mean it. It was hell."

But Naruto seemed to be absorbed in watching the ground. Sasuke became livid.

Grasping the kunai in his arm tightly, Sasuke yanked it out and, ignoring the pain, flung it at the woman yelling at the top of his lungs.

"You whore!"

The girl's eyes widened in surprise at the knife being thrown at her. There was a soft, muffled tearing sound as the kunai became entrenched between her eyes. She fell back against the tree she had been cowering against just minutes before and slid down on her knees to the ground. Naruto gasped and couldn't seem to rejuvenate himself at the horrid sight.

Sasuke's trembling fingers gently brushed Naruto's arm, waking him back up.

"Naruto, breathe. Calm down, she got what she deserved." Sasuke soothed.

But Naruto still couldn't catch his breath.

A deep laugh made them freeze.

"Seriously—calm down, shorty," an annoying voice rang through the surrounding. Naruto and Sasuke both looked up at the source—the woman from before was crouching in the tree above where she supposedly 'died'.

"I'm still here, cutie," she winked. Naruto and Sasuke both looked down at the base of the tree. Where she was once before was a log with the kunai rooted in it in her place.

Sasuke glared up at her. "You never give up, do you? Why don't you just drop dead?" (I love that song!)

The red head shrugged. "And what would happen if I did?" she retorted slyly.

"Everyone would be happier." Sasuke answered. Suddenly, he blinked. When his eyes opened again, they had changed from his usual dark, icy blue to a bright shade of scarlet. The 'Shaningan'. They girl looked taken aback for a second, before laughing.

"We match, Hun!" she exclaimed, pointing to her hair.

Sasuke twitched. "Call me that again, and I'll slaughter you," he growled.

The red-head giggled, making Sasuke twitch even more. "That sounds like a challenge…" she paused. "…Hun…"

"You BITCH!" he bellowed as he pitched a kunai that was hidden in his sleeve at her. The girl had anticipated this, so she quickly took out one of the needles in her pack and used it to block the kunai being thrown at her. (I'll name her Me-Ushi! LoL! Yes! Laughter is once again mine! Finally! )

Me-Ushi jumped from the branch she was in and landed with catlike grace next to the log that had made a counterfeit for her.

Raising a finger and gesturing them over, Me-Ushi tried to lure them to her. "Bring it…"

Sasuke never took his gaze off of the red-head, but nudged Naruto and took out another kunai. "Naruto, get back to Sakura and Kakashi-sensei. Tell them what's going on."

Naruto kept his gaze on the girl as well, but shifted to a more prepared position, taking out a couple ninja stars as he did so. (Ya know, those things that you throw? Basically, a more awesome version of the Frisbee)

**(If you don't like randomness, now's the time to skip to the next chappy)**

Shaking his head, Naruto transferred the ninja stars to in between each finger. "No way. I'm not going anywhere. I can take her, believe it! I can do anything you can do better! I can do anything better than you!"

Sasuke twitched, trying to resist the urge…but…he couldn't…do it…! (YES! YOU KNOW IT'S COMING!)

"No you can't!"

Naruto grinned. "Yes I can!"

Sasuke grinned back. "No you can't!"

"Yes I can!"

"No you can't!"

"Yes I can, yes I can!"

Me-Ushi just stared at them dumbly.

"Anything you can be, I can be greater! Sooner or later, I'm greater than you!" the blond sang.

"No you're not!"

"Yes I am!"

"No you're not!"

"Yes I am!"

"No you're not!"

"Yes I am, yes I am!"

The two boys had totally forgotten about Me-Ushi. Sasuke scowled at Naruto and sang, "I can shoot a partridge with a single cartridge!"

Naruto crossed his arms. "I can get a sparrow with a bow and arrow! I can do most anything!"

"Can you bake a pie?"

Naruto blinked. "No…"

Sasuke shrugged. "Neither can I."

Naruto stared to sing louder. "Anything you can sing, I can sing louder! I can sing anything louder than you!"

"No you can't…" Sasuke's voice cracked as he sang louder.

"Anything you can dig, I can dig deeper! I can dig anything deeper than you!"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "30 feet."

Naruto shrugged. "40 feet."

"50 feet."

"60 feet."

"No you can't!"

"Yes I can, yes I can!"

"I can drink my liquor faster than a flicker." (O.o…um…I bet you can, Sasuke…)

"I can do it quicker and get even sicker!" Naruto held his stomach.

"I can live on bread and cheese!"

"And only on that?"

"Yes."

Naruto laughed. "So can a rat!"

Sasuke's head whipped around to Naruto. "Hey!"

Naruto laughed again and began to sing even higher. "Anything you can reach, I can go higher! I can sing anything higher than you!"

"No you can't…" Sasuke began to sing even higher.

"Anyone you can lick, I can lick harder! I can lick anyone harder than you!" Naruto spun around as he sang.

"With your fist?"

"With my feet!"

"With your feet?"

"With an axe!" Naruto had an evil glint in his eyes. By now, Me-Ushi had fallen asleep cuddling the log that she used as a replica as herself.

Sasuke backed away as Naruto sang that, but the blond shinobi continued. He seemed to like this.

"Any school where you went, I could be master! I could be master much faster than you!" Sasuke raised his brow even further. Naruto-sama? Never. Ever. And don't you forget it! If you do, I'll sick my evil sea gull on you! MUWAHAHAHA!

"Can you spell?" Sasuke asked.

Naruto's face fell. "No I can't…"

Sasuke smirked. "Can you add?"

Naruto's shoulders slumped. "No I can't…"

"Can you teach?"

Naruto's face lit up. "Yes I can, yes I can!"

Naruto took a breath, but continued to sing. "I could be a racer, quite a steeple chaser!"

"I could jump a hurdle, even with my girdle." (Sasuke? With a girdle? NOOOOOO! cries)

"I can open any safe."

"Without being caught?" Sasuke asked. (Well, duh! Any real ninja could!)

"Yup!" Naruto grinned broadly.

"That's what I thought, you crook…" (Yeah, like Sasuke is one to talk…)

"Any note you can hold, I can hold longer! I can hold any note longer than you!"

"No you can't!"

"Yes I ca-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-an!" Naruto kept singing.

"No you ca-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-n't!" Suddenly, Sasuke ran out of breath. Gasping for air, he turned to his blond friend who was still singing. Wow…By now, Sasuke was overwhelmed. Sasuke took another breath and began to sing again.

Sasuke started to go blue as he sang. "Yes you ca-a-a-an!"

The Uchiha gasped for breath before passing out. Naruto continued to hold that note before cheering madly and jumping up and down like a crazed cannibalistic monkey. (OMG!) Then he too, passed out.

J/K…that whole thing didn't really happen…

* * *

A/N: Wow…what a waste of my time…and yours…but I was uber sad and needed something to cheer me up…so yeah. This chapter is just a filler one, you didn't even have to read. Too bad for you…It was just made for shits and giggle. So yeah…TT… 


	10. Fight Scene The Real Thing

A/N: Yo! I'll start this chappy from right before it started getting wacky last chapter, k? Here's the real fight scene.

Warning: I suck at writing fight scenes. I can draw them, I can animate them, but give me a keyboard with a computer…and you'll regret it…This is going to be short, alright?

Disclaimer: And as I'm sure you've all been dying to know, and seeing as how none of you could've ever figured this out for yourself…I do not own Naruto. Unfortunately, I'm stuck with Me-Ushi…

* * *

Chapter 10

Fight Scene: The Real Thing

The wind blew slightly, stirring the leaves and trees. But the two chunin ignored it. Right now, they were focused on the red-head girl in front of them.

Raising a finger and gesturing them over, Me-Ushi tried to lure them to her. "Bring it…"

Sasuke never took his gaze off of the red-head, but nudged Naruto and pulled out another kunai. "Naruto, get back to Sakura and Kakashi-sensei. Tell them what's going on."

Naruto kept his gaze on the girl as well, but shifted to a more prepared position, taking out a couple ninja stars as he did so. (Ya know, those things that you throw? Basically, a more awesome version of the Frisbee)

Shaking his head, Naruto transferred the ninja stars to in between each finger. "No way. I'm not going anywhere. I can take her, believe it! I won't run away, and you know it!"

Sasuke sighed. "Yeah…I do…" he muttered too softly for Naruto to hear.

Naruto glanced at his companion with an array of emotions swirling inside of him. The truth was that Naruto didn't want to leave Sasuke with someone like Me-Ushi. Naruto knew he could trust Sasuke, but that girl had managed to get close enough to Sasuke to kiss him. Who knew what else she would pull if Naruto left them alone? Naruto didn't want to ever give her that chance. Never would she touch Sasuke again. Naruto wouldn't let her. Naruto had to remember to keep his mask in place to keep his anger in check.

"Yay! Both of you are staying?" Me-Ushi grinned happily. "Great! More fun for me! Hmm…maybe I could get a threesome goin'…" Then she laughed again.

Naruto's jaw dropped. He almost dropped his ninja stars and started to twitch. Sasuke however, took out yet another kunai and flung at Me-Ushi. She spun around, dodging it with ease. But when she turned back around, Sasuke was in her face with his other kunai pressed against her chest.

With a swift motion, Sasuke began to hack away with his kunai. Me-Ushi's back arched and she became taut, but no blood was shed. Cloth and skin alike was torn apart.

Abruptly, the girl he was slicing jumped back. Cuts ran all along her body and tattered cloths, but no blood. A confused expression spread across Sasuke's face before he turned to scan his surroundings.

"A doppelganger, huh?" Sasuke smirked. "Well, where the hell are you?"

An unexpected yell made Sasuke whip around. Naruto was still on the ground, but now he had stilettos sticking out of down his left side. Sasuke glanced up and leapt towards Naruto. Just as Sasuke anticipated, a shower of the slender knives came pouring down to where he was standing just moments before. A couple dozen of them were now embedded in the ground, sticking out in every direction.

Sasuke dropped down to Naruto and started to gingerly help him yank out the stilettos in his side. Suddenly, Sasuke sensed another movement above them and quickly pulled out a shuriken that had been strapped to his leg. Opening the four blades, Sasuke grasped the handle and started to rapidly spin it above both him and Naruto.

Trying to cover both his face and Naruto's, Sasuke felt sudden jolts pummeling the shuriken, along with sharp, earsplitting clinks of metal scouring off of metal. Sasuke could see stilettos falling all around him and Naruto.

The jolts were relentless, they just wouldn't stop. _That girl must have an endless supply of stilettos, or something! Dammit! I have to get out of this before I can start attacking her myself…_

Grasping his blond companion, Sasuke hastily jumped out from beneath the downpour of stilettos and rushed over to the other side of the opening, folding his shuriken as he ran.

But the barrage of knives followed him. Sasuke swore, but continued to run with Naruto under his arm.

"Put me down, Sasuke!" Naruto started to flail.

Sasuke didn't answer, but stopped and turned on his heel. Tossing Naruto in a bush as he turned, Sasuke faced the onslaught of stilettos bearing towards him and grinned. With both of his hands free, he could make whatever hand sign he wanted.

Hurriedly, Sasuke whipped his hands around, forming the hand sign for the 'tiger', 'ox', and 'horse'. He could feel the sharp stilettos cutting into his skin—some he could feel were rooted in. Sasuke ignored them and tilted his head to where the bombardment of knives was coming from. Blood started to drip down his arms as he inhaled. Bringing his left hand to his mouth, Sasuke used his forefinger and his thumb to circle his mouth and blew.

A stream of flames shot from the Uchiha's mouth and danced around the trees. Naruto popped his head out from the bush to watch.

"Go Sasuke-teme!" Naruto cheered.

Then Sasuke started to run out of breath. Stopping for a moment to catch his breath, the flames stopped as well. Sasuke inhaled again and blew between his two fingers. The flames roared back to life and began to burn the top of the trees. A rustling above him made Sasuke blow even harder, making the inferno burn brighter. A sudden scream pierced through the forest. Sasuke smiled.

As Sasuke stopped to catch his breath again, a certain red-head fell from the tops of the tree, enflamed. Sasuke tensed and readied himself. Naruto, too, jumped from the bushes with a ninja star still between each finger.

Me-Ushi started to roll around, trying to put out the fire that was engulfing her. When she finally stopped, she stood up and straightened herself. Few flames licked her legs, but she patted them out. Glaring at the Uchiha, she spat at him.

"So that's how you like to play…? Well fine…If you're going to fuck with me—" Suddenly Me-Ushi pulled out two shuriken, one in each hand. They were huge. "—I'm going to fuck with you _harder_!"

She crouched down and started to whirl the shuriken around. Naruto stepped in front of Sasuke, brought his hands back, and hurled the ninja stars at Me-Ushi. She didn't move. Instead, she used the spinning shuriken in her hands to ward off the offending disks. Then Me-Ushi took a step forward and soared over to Naruto. Naruto leapt back as the shuriken skimmed his chest, cutting his orange shirt.

Me-Ushi spun around wildly, the shuriken flying at Naruto in every direction. Stepping forward, Naruto kicked up between the two shuriken at Me-Ushi's head. As his foot came in contact with her chin, a 'thud' rang in Naruto's ears.

The red-head recoiled, dropping one of her shuriken, and held her jaw. Blood started to trickle between her fingers. Removing her hand from her jaw, Me-Ushi looked down at the blood in surprise. A tiny, but deep gash was below her lower lip.

"How the hell…?" she started.

Naruto chuckled and pointed down at his foot. The small tip of a dagger was jutting out from the tip of the sole of his shoe.

"And you said I was an idiot…" Naruto grinned.

Me-Ushi scowled and bent down to pick her shuriken up, not taking her eyes off of the blond shinobi. But when her hand felt nothing, she glimpsed down. Her shuriken was gone. Looking between Naruto and Sasuke, her eyes narrowed. Neither of them seemed to have it. Realizing what had happened, Me-Ushi quickly turned around.

Behind her was an exact copy of Naruto. In the fake's hands was her shuriken.

Immediately, Me-Ushi took out a stiletto and threw it at the copy's neck pressure point. But before she had even moved, the doppelganger-Naruto threw the shuriken towards another orange-clad figure in a tree. The first Naruto-double fell before Me-Ushi with a stiletto in his neck, but the second one (with the shuriken) leapt to another branch in a different tree.

Frustrated, Me-Ushi took out a handful of stilettos from her thigh pouch and hurled them all at the second Naruto. The replica-Naruto laughed and jumped down to the ground, avoiding the knives being thrown at him.

Landing on his feet, he turned to Me-Ushi and stuck his tongue out at her. Suddenly, another Naruto popped out from a bush next to the second Naruto. The second passed the shuriken over to the third, who the proceeded to throw the shuriken up in the air. Me-Ushi ran to catch it, but suddenly stopped. Three more Naruto-clones had popped out from who-knows-where and were trying to restrain the girl. One had his arms and legs around Me-Ushi's back while the other two had wrapped themselves around her legs, gluing her in her place. One was even biting her. (LoL!)

Me-Ushi ignored them and struggled desperately to get to her shuriken. But another Naruto popped out of the tree above the third Naruto and caught the rogue blades.

Me-Ushi cursed in frustration and glanced down at the Naruto-clones restraining her. Grasping her other shuriken, she swung it around, slicing the three duplicates away from her.

Spinning around to face the real Naruto, Me-Ushi gasped. In his raised hand was her shuriken. Me-Ushi clutched her head as if suffering from a major headache, and cursed again. Looking up at him with eyes filled with rage, she demanded an explanation.

"How many clones can you make!" she shouted infuriated.

Naruto laughed and shrugged. "Dunno…Why don't you try to count?"

With that last statement, the blond chunin leapt into the air, and grabbed a branch, swinging himself over. Looking over his shoulder at the red-head, he grinned and gave her the 'peace' sign before leaping into the trees.

The Uchiha, however, had perched himself on the limb of an oak, trying to enjoy this little game of 'monkey in the middle'.

Me-Ushi scanned everywhere around her, searching for more of the orange-clad clones. But they seemed to have disappeared. In fact, the only movement was Me-Ushi turning her head and Sasuke swinging his leg back and forth from his branch.

Sasuke grinned. He knew exactly what Naruto was going to do. His intentions were totally evident in his mind. All Sasuke had to do was take a little peek to find out what Naruto was up to.

Suddenly, Me-Ushi's other shuriken came flying out from the tree tops, spinning out of control. It landed before Me-Ushi and entrenched itself in the ground in front of her feet. Me-Ushi stared at it, trying to figure out what was going on. A sudden yell above her made her head snap back up. Me-Ushi gasped. She dropped her other shuriken and her eyes widened at the sight of…

…about 30 Narutos falling towards her from the tree tops.

A shriek was forming in her throat, but before she could let it out, she felt herself being pummeled by over two dozen 120lb boys. All of them were punching and trashing at her everywhere.

After a while of being pounded by a horde of Narutos, Me-Ushi felt her limbs starting to numb.

Then she saw the Uchiha jump from the tree and stride over to his comrade. "Naruto, that's enough. We have to get to the Village hidden in the Mist, remember?"

Every Naruto turned to look at Sasuke. It was pretty funny, actually. Me-Ushi would've laughed if someone's elbow hadn't been jabbing into her spleen. All at once, every single clone-Naruto poofed into smoke. The real Naruto stood up and turned to Sasuke.

"Yeah, let's go!"

Sasuke glanced down at the crippled girl lying on the ground. "I think you overdid it, Naruto…"

Naruto glanced at Me-Ushi and shook his head. "Well I think she got what was coming. Now let's go!"

Sasuke smiled…before a look of total shock crossed his face. Immediately, he took out a kunai. Naruto tilted his head to the side.

"Hmmm? Sasuke, what—" Naruto started. But he couldn't finish. A sudden strong, vice-like grip had been placed around his neck. The hold was getting tighter, and he couldn't breathe. Sasuke held the kunai in his hand back, as if to throw it, but froze.

"Hold it, Hun," came the annoying voice of Me-Ushi. She was up and standing and both of her hands were tightly clamped around Naruto's neck. "Move…and the kiddie gets it. I could break his neck with just a twitch of my thumbs right now, so you should just get on your knees right now and beg."

Sasuke didn't move, but continued to glare at the red head. "You're still here? Why can't you just die, damn it!"

Me-Ushi didn't say anything, just squeezed Naruto's neck harder. Sasuke tensed.

She grinned evilly. "Well? I said get on your knees! And put that kunai down while you're at it."

This time, Sasuke very slowly fell to his knees and dropped his kunai. In the meantime, Naruto was rapidly running out of air. Me-Ushi's grin broadened.

"It's so much fun having you as my slave, Sasu…" she savored calling him that. She continued. "It's just too bad that I won't spare this cutie in the end…or you for that matter, either. I'll have my fun with you, then kill you off, just like him. Now watch as I do so…"

Suddenly, her grip on Naruto's neck tightened to the extent. Sasuke watched in terror as his buddy's face was contorted in a grimace of pain and started to turn blue.

Then came a very fateful sound. The sound of…Bones cracking? A neck snapping? A scream? (that's kinda gross…) No! Instead it was the sound of something slicing through the air. Something shiny whizzed by Sasuke's ear, past Naruto, and…into Me-Ushi's forehead. A small dagger.

There was a small splat and as Naruto turned to look at the red head strangling him, drops of blood splattered against his face. Both, Me-Ushi and Naruto were stunned. But after two seconds, Me-Ushi was stunned no longer and toppled over onto Naruto. Naruto fell with her and screamed as they hit the ground together.

Sasuke gradually turned his head to look for their new attacker, but only found Kakashi.

"K-Kakashi…?" Sasuke whispered.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura ran out from behind their sensei and glomped Sasuke. Sasuke just kneeled there, stunned.

"Are you alright?" Sakura asked desperately, cradling Sasuke's face. Sasuke stood up and looked away, nodding slightly.

"C-can…can someone h-help me…?" came a weak voice. Sasuke and Sakura turned to see Kakashi treading over to a blond stuck under a red head.

"Naruto…" Sasuke gasped.

Sakura trotted over to Naruto. He was twitching. "Are you alright, Naruto?"

"He will be once we get this girl off of him…" Kakashi replied as he heaved Me-Ushi of off Naruto. Sakura grabbed Naruto's arm and helped pull him up.

"Naruto?" she asked cautiously.

Sasuke walked over to Naruto and Sakura. Grabbing Naruto, he pulled the blond off of Sakura.

"…Sasuke?" Naruto wheezed.

"She's dead. You don't have to worry now, Naruto…" he calmed.

"…Oi…Where's Kakashi-sensei?"

At Naruto's request, Sasuke gently carried his comrade over to their sensei. Looking up at the jonin with his bright blue eyes, Naruto asked, "How much longer 'til we get to the Village hidden in the Mist? I'm tired of bad stuff happening here…" (Aww…so bishi…)

Kakashi shifted awkwardly and looked away. "Soon, Naruto."

Naruto grinned. "Well, let's get going!"

Turning to Sasuke, he smiled. "It's alright, let go. I can walk!"

Sasuke reluctantly put Naruto down. Once again, the team was on their way to the Village hidden in the Mist. With Me-Ushi and the evil Sea Gull all but a horrid memory, Naruto, Sasuke, Kakashi, and Sakura turned their backs on the past and continued on with their journey.

* * *

A/N: Well? Well! WELL! Heh, I really hope this chappy was liked. I don't really like it very much… Sorry for all of the gore and stuff…I didn't mean to make it like that, but I type as I think…or something…Anyway, next chapter real soon, k?

Cookies for all who review, as always, my pets! LoL, j/k! My only pet is Garaa…and maybe Neji…melts at the sound of their names

By the way, can anyone tell me Kakashi, Sakura, and Garaa's last name? Please? I'll give you another chapter! … Crap I sound petty…


	11. Arrival

A/N: Yes! That's right! Ta—Authorsama is back and alive! You may now bow…j/k! That plan has not yet been put in to place….but when it does, I shall raise hell, screw Hades, and your life would just end, wouldn't it? Why, you ask?

1 word: SasuNaru

Not enough for you? Okay!

2 words: Drive by

3 words: Hannibal the cannibal

4 words: Gaggle of carnivorous geese

5 words: Barney lovers of America club

…Um…never mind…Aheh, let's get on with the story!

* * *

Chapter 11

Arrival

Naruto stared up at the arch that indicated they had arrived at the Village hidden in the Mist. He just couldn't believe. Two days. They had been traveling for two days (they arrived after dusk) and this is the only welcome they got? Pillars of wood and two guards? Crap…that's not cool…

They had just trekked through a forest and were now on the edge of it, staring into the entrance of the whole reason they were there. The Village hidden in the Mist.

Suddenly Naruto burst out laughing. "Well it's about time!" he shouted as he started to run up to the entrance. But Kakashi grabbed the hyperactive boy's shoulder and pulled him back.

"Naruto, I want you to create a different name." he whispered into Naruto's ear.

Naruto pulled back instantly. "Wha? What! Why should I!"

"It would be better if you did."

"But Sasuke is using his real name! And so are you and Sakura-chan! So why me!"

Kakashi sighed and rubbed his temples with his forefingers. "Just this once, Naruto, please just use a different name!" Kakashi was becoming impatient.

Naruto glared at the ground. Again, he was the different one. But still, he slowly nodded. Kakashi sighed in relief and smiled through his mask.

"Thank you, Naruto. It would just be in your best interests to use a different name."

Naruto shrugged. "Whatever…" Then he trudged over to Sasuke and Sakura.

Kakashi shook his head. "Poor kid…"

* * *

"Halt! State your names, your ranking, where you are from, and your purpose for being here."

The guards blocked the entrance with their staff-things as the team approached. Kakashi stepped in front of the chunin and became the first speaker.

"My name is Hatake Kakashi, ranking-jonin, and this is my team. We come from the Village hidden in the Leaves in the Land of Fire. We were sent here by the 5th Hokage, Tsunade, to carry out a mission that involves speaking with the Kage of your village."

The guards nodded and looked over to Sasuke.

"I'm Uchiha Sasuke, ranking-chunin. I come from the Land of Fire for the sole purpose of completing a mission here. The sooner you let us through, the sooner we can get out of here."

Next was Sakura.

"Hi, um…I'm Haruno Sakura, ranking-chunin. I, too, am from the Land of Fire. Our Hokage sent us here to see your Kage. We've had a long journey and…are…eager to see the Kage."

Now the guards were eyeing Naruto…who was going red from frustration and indecision.

"I'm…" Kakashi looked down at the boy, praying that he would keep his promise. "I'm…" Now Sasuke was staring at Naruto, wondering why he was taking so long. "I'm…" Sakura nudged Naruto to hurry up. He was making them look bad. That seemed to wake the boy up. Suddenly he grinned foxishly.

Looking up with burning eyes, he laughed. "I'm Uzamaki Naruto, and I'm going to be the greatest Hokage ever! Soon you'll have to bow down to me! Just you wait!"

Kakashi's eyes widened. "No!"

The guards strangely tensed. "Did…you say…Uzamaki…?" one of them asked.

"That's right! Now bow! Bow at my feet!" Naruto pointed to the ground at his feet.

Suddenly, there was a flash and the next thing the team knew, they were surrounded by ninjas wearing masks. In their hands were rapiers, all pointed at the three chunin and the jonin. Kakashi looked taken aback, before holding his hands up, indicating he was harmless. Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura glanced over at him, before mimicking the gesture.

"You dare try to smuggle this demon into our village?" of one the guards demanded as Naruto was prodded with one of the swords.

"Ow!" he cried out.

"An outrage!" the guard shouted.

"Sir, please, there must be some mistake…If we could just see the Kage, I'm sure everything would be sorted out." Kakashi tried to reason.

The guard put his hands on his hips. "And let you kill him? Never!"

"No, we wish talk with him. Our Kage sent us here as a representative, not as assassins. You must understand that we mean you and your village no harm."

But the guard still looked suspicious. Turning to one of the ninjas with the rapiers, he beckoned him over. "You! Go inform our Kage of their arrival. And tell him that the Uzamaki child is with them!"

"Yes sir!" the ninja saluted. Then he flashed away.

Minutes ticked by of awkward silence. The two guards stood impatiently at their posts while the ninjas held their positions. Naruto fidgeted uncomfortably along with the rest of his team. Soon, the ninja returned, bringing both relief and anticipation to the guards, the other ninjas, and Naruto's comrades. Everyone stared at the ninja.

"He said he would like to see the travelers right away. And we're to bring the Uzamaki child bound and gagged. He wants no further disruptions during the meeting. That's all."

Naruto's eyes widened, as well as Sasuke's.

"What!" Naruto shouted indignantly. "I have to be bound and—"

Suddenly, he was hit with a very blunt object, causing him to fall on his face. Looking up he saw that it was Kakashi's fist.

"K-Kakashi-sensei?"

"Sensei, what are you doing!" Sakura yelled, looking down at Naruto.

"Naruto, do as they say. They could kill you, and you've already been almost killed twice on this journey. Just let them bound you and you'll be safe." Kakashi said it as more of a command instead of a request. Then Naruto felt someone grabbing his wrist and forcing them behind his back. When he felt a rope being tightened around his two wrists, he tried to look behind him to see what was going on. But when he turned his head, one of the ninjas grabbed his jaw and forced it open. From behind his head, another ninja forced a cloth into Naruto's open mouth, tying it tightly behind Naruto's head.

Sasuke instinctively drew a kunai and started to throw it at the ninja gagging Naruto, but four ninjas automatically directed their rapiers at him.

"Sasuke, leave it." Kakashi told him. With anger still boiling inside him, Sasuke dropped the kunai, not even caring that it fell on one of the ninja's foot.

"Yes, it's best that you come willingly," the guard grinned.

"Go to hell…" Sasuke growled. A yelp on the ground made him look down. The ninjas were tying the ropes around Naruto's wrist tighter.

"Stop! He has a hurt wrist!" Sasuke commanded. The ninja ignored him and continued to make Naruto's constrictions tighter. Then the ninjas moved to Naruto's thrashing feet. Tying the ropes around his ankles just as tight as the ones around his wrist, they restrained his legs and picked him up. With Naruto being carried by two ninjas, the rest of the pack circled around Kakashi, Sakura, and Sasuke.

"You shall move in a single-file line. Our ninjas will lead to the Kage's turret. They are highly trained and will kill you if you try to escape, so if I were you…I'd refrain from trying." The guards removed their staff things from the entrance, allowing the ninjas to go through. Sakura, Kakashi, and Sasuke walked through one after another, just like the guard had commanded. Naruto was held above the two ninjas' heads.

In that formation, the group walked past the entrance and into the Village hidden in the Mist.

* * *

Naruto looked around from the ninjas' arms. The Village hidden in the Mist still didn't have many buildings, but more had been built since the team's last trip to the village. Most of the buildings were homes, but a few shops and stores were scattered among the buildings. Even in the dark, Naruto could tell that the buildings and homes were very shabby and worn out.

Not very many people were out, either. Once in a while, Naruto would spot a gang of people in an alleyway or a few random people strolling about, but otherwise the streets were deserted.

Naruto glanced down at his teammates. Sakura was trying to stay as close to Sasuke as possible without angering the surrounding ninjas, while Sasuke kept looking up at Naruto, poised, and fingering something in his sleeve—a kunai, no doubt. Kakashi, however, kept his gaze on the flanking ninjas. Like Sasuke, he, too, seemed light on his feet.

When Sasuke looked up at him again, Naruto tried to give him a reassuring smile, but choked on the cloth in his mouth. As he started to gag, everyone glanced at him.

Suddenly, they stopped. When his coughing fit was over, Naruto looked up. In front of the group was a tall tower with a pointed tip at the top. Strangely, there didn't seem to be a door, or an entry, or anyway to enter the tower. Naruto gasped, but then started to cough again.

One of the ninjas detached himself from the assembly and walked over to the front wall of the tower and pulled out a metal object. Hitting the wall with the item twice, the ninja made an earsplitting screeching sound. Naruto tried to cover his ears, but remembered that his hands were tied behind him, so ducked his head to escape the noise instead.

After the screech, there was a sudden rumble and the tower started to tremble slightly. All at once, the wall disappeared to reveal a hallway leading to a staircase. Doors dotted the walls. Naruto stared up in awe.

The group continued forward.

As they climbed the staircase, Naruto's mind began to reel. The higher the ninjas carried him, the more anxious he became.

_Why're they doing this to me? What have I ever done to them?_ he pondered. He would've asked them—he had tried 14 times—but the cloth in his mouth wouldn't let him. Whenever he tried, he started to retch again. Soon, the end of the staircase was in sight. The beginning ninjas climbed the remaining stairs and the rest of the group followed. At the top of the flight of stairs was a long and narrow landing that had a very high ceiling. Naruto craned his neck back to see the top, but it was out of his sight.

Only three people at a time could fit down the corridor. No doors were visible along this hallway. In fact, it seemed to be a dead end. But after seeing the entrance of the tower appear out of nowhere, Naruto knew better.

Just as Naruto expected, the ninja with the metal object approached the back wall and slammed the metal thingy against the wall four times this time. Or something…

The same screech echoed through the hall, but it was strangely muffled. Then it was blocked out completely by the sound of huge tremors ricocheting off the stone walls. A sudden bright light made Naruto wince. The light traveled around the wall in the shape of a giant door, and after one last tremor, turned into two, colossal golden double-doors.

The golden double-doors were both encrusted with gems and had statues of water animals built into it. The shiny gold marble flowed gracefully around the doors, as if it was water—liquid gold. It rippled along the edges of the doors and around the statues. A golden dolphin with sapphire eyes that suddenly popped out knocked out one of the ninjas in front. Another ninja had to drag him away.

_Some ninja he is…_Naruto thought to himself. A few paces in front of him, Sasuke suppressed a grin. It was just so much fun reading Naruto's mind…

After the unconscious ninja was dragged away, another ninja approached the doors and stood next to a ruby red shark. Grabbing the tail-fin-thing, the ninja yanked downwards with all of his strength. A sharp cracking sound glanced off the wall, causing everyone to flinch. The ninja looked down in his hands. The shark's fin had broken off…

…sweat drop…

"Crap…" the ninja mumbled. "That was the wrong one…"

"I think it's this one over here, Jeff," another ninja pointed to the tail of a mer-person.

"Well, what should I do with this?" the first ninja waved the golden fin around. One of the ninjas next to Sakura wordlessly strode over to him and snatched the gold out of his hands. Hiding it in his shirt, he looked around at everyone suspiciously.

"…You didn't see anything…" he informed them as he got back into formation.

"Enough of this!" bellowed the ninja grasping the mermaid's fin. He pulled the fin downwards like he had done with the shark, except this time, there was no cracking sound. A clear ringing echoed through the room. Suddenly, the doors soundlessly glided inwards, revealing what lay inside.

* * *

A/N: Ooh…a cliffy… And a very bad one, I might add. By the way, I haven't been reading/watching Naruto for a while, so I don't know if the Land of Water's Kage was ever mentioned or explained. And what is the Kage of the Village hidden in the Mist called? Like the Kage for the Village hidden in the Leaves is Hokage…

Damn, I'm ignorant…

Anyway, you know the drill! Cookies for all who review! I can't promise that the next chappy will be up soon, because I need the info above to write chapter 12. so basically, you review, I'll write.


	12. Interrogation

**A/N:** Wahh! I'm so sorry, 'My Reason' reviewers! I have lost all of my drive to keep writing this story! Ya see, in Chapter 11, I asked you guys what you knew about the Mizukage. But since no one answered, I couldn't write anymore! So I started working on 'Murtagh's Story', and totally spent all of my focus on that story! But after I was done with Chapter 3, I realized that I hadn't posted Chapter 11 for 'My Reason'!

Then it hit me…THAT'S why people didn't tell me anything about the Mizukage! So I posted it, people told me what they knew, but I still had no desire to write anymore for this story! But I must! I must write!

So please…I'm asking for a favor…if you wish for me to continue this story, please hit me with whatever you can find so I will realize why I am writing this at all… (You can hit me with anything but a whale…yes, even that old grilled cheese sandwich by your foot…)

* * *

Chapter 12

To Interrogate

After the ninja pulled the right fin, the doors slowly and noiselessly glided open. Naruto almost gasped at the sight before him, but remembered that he'd probably die choking if he did. So instead, he just gaped at the room.

Before the group was a circular, stone room. Oddly shaped lanterns with a reddish glow emanating were attached to the walls every few feet, giving the room it's only source of light. The room was twice as big as the hallway they had just been in. Golden water statues were placed against the stone walls of the room, the radiance of the red lanterns reflecting off the gold. There was a row of many pedestals with statues of a man's head placed on top. Their names were engraved into the pedestal along with the Land of Water crest.

_They must be old Mizukages…_Naruto figured.

The pedestals were lined up in two rows, creating a path towards a large throne-like-thing. Resting on the throne was a very old, plump man who straightened immediately when he saw his visitors. The finest of material covered his large body, embroidered with large, dignified blue dragons dancing upon his silken robe.

The man's face was squished together from age, creating many deep wrinkles. Placed on his head was a strangely shaped hat with the Land of Water crest embedded into it.

Looking up at his guests, he studied first Kakashi, Sakura, Sasuke, and then Naruto. His knowing gaze lingered on the bound blond behind held in the air by the two ninjas and frowned, creating even more wrinkles in his pug-like face. The two ninjas put Naruto on the cold, hard floor and kneeled in front of the man along with the other ninjas in the group as a sign of respect.

"Mizukage…we have brought the demon bound and gagged, just as you requested," one of them stated.

"I can see that, you fool." The man turn his attention to Kakashi and growled. "You thought to smuggle this creature into my village? You are a foolish man…"

"Mizukage, please hear me out. Naruto is in total control. The seal is in place, and it hasn't been touched. It is still intact. You must understand, Naruto will do neither you nor you village any harm."

"Sensei, what are you talking about?" Sakura asked anxiously.

"Control or no control, I will not allow this abomination to wander the streets of my village!" he gestured over to Naruto. Suddenly Naruto, who had been struggling to get the cloth out of his mouth, spoke for the first time since the last chapter.

"That's it! I'm tired of you insulting me, you old, ugly toad! If anyone is an 'abomination', or whatever, it's you! Why can't you just—"

But suddenly Naruto started to choke again. The cloth that he had been trying so hard to get off had been replaced by a ninja behind him. After staring at Naruto for a moment, the Mizukage returned his focus on Kakashi.

"You claim the boy has control over the monster, yet he doesn't even have control over his own tongue!"

"Please!" Kakashi protested. "Sir, he will be kept in his place! I'll make sure he does! Mizukage, please allow Naruto into your village for only a few days! That is all we need! During that time, Naruto will be under my control, and I promise you, nothing untoward will befall upon anyone of your villagers."

But the Mizukage still looked unconvinced. "When do you plan to leave?"

"We'll leave right after our meeting with you, sir."

Suddenly, the Mizukage froze, stunned. "What?"

Kakashi cleared his throat. "Our meeting with you. Our meeting that we traveled from the Land of Fire to the Land of Water to attend."

"You mean to tell me that you four are the representatives Tsunade sent from the Village hidden in the Leaves!" he bellowed.

Nodding his agreement, Kakashi looked up at the angered Kage.

"Why didn't I know about this sooner!" the demanded, sighing and massaged his temples. "It doesn't matter now…Kakashi, was it? I suppose I have no choice but to let you and your team take shelter in my village for the time being…Our meeting will have to wait for a day or so…There are many things that I must tend to."

"And about Naruto?"

The man visibly stiffened and turned his gaze upon Naruto. After a long, awkward pause, the Mizukage seemed to make up him mind.

"Hatake Kakashi, you claim the Uzamaki Naruto child has complete control over his actions. Call me a fool, but I will take your word for it and allow the boy one—and only one—chance to prove it himself. But know that he will not have total freedom in this village. While present in the Village hidden in the Mist, the boy will be followed and observed at all times by my personal ninjas. They will report back to me after each day that you stay here. Once out of the village boundaries, however, Uzamaki Naruto is free to do as he wishes. Is that understood? Because only under those circumstances will he be able to walk the streets of the Village hidden in the Mist."

"It is," Kakashi said simply.

"Then so be it. Someone untie the demon-boy. Now!"

At their Mizukage's request, a couple ninjas came up from behind Naruto, took out a kunai and cut the ropes. Another ninja roughly yanked out the cloth from Naruto's mouth, causing him to gag.

"You are all dismissed."

* * *

"Kakashi-sensei…what were they talking about in there? Why did they bound and gag Naruto?" Sakura asked Kakashi. The team was finally allowed to leave after agreeing to the Mizukage's conditions. The sky had changed from dusk to night during their conversation and the only lights were from little houses and a few scattered street lamps.

Sakura and Kakashi were talking up ahead while Naruto and Sasuke lagged behind. Every few moments, Sasuke would secretly turn to catch a glimpse at the blond shinobi, making sure that he didn't topple over at any second. Sasuke could see from just looking at Naruto that he was exhausted. But Sasuke couldn't blame him. After all, this trip must've been extremely strenuous on the poor boy.

"For reasons that occurred over a decade," Kakashi told her simply.

Sakura pondered what he said for a moment, before blurting out, "Does it have anything to do with the Nine-Tailed Fox?"

Both Naruto and Kakashi stopped in their tracks, Naruto's face stunned. But just as quickly, he readjusted his 'mask' and continued to walk with a smile on his face. Of course, the sudden change wasn't missed by a certain Uchiha. Kakashi, however, sent Sakura a look the obviously told her that the conversation was over…

…but also confirmed her suspicions…

* * *

Ever since Sakura asked about the Nine-Tailed Fox demon, a very awkward and somewhat tense silence stretched between the four shinobi. Sakura had been trying to change the topic, but nothing was working.

"So where are we going, Kakashi-sensei?" she asked.

"We're trying to find an tavern…just somewhere we can spend the night at," Kakashi told her bluntly.

"Oh…" Sakura replied, shifting her weight onto another foot.

Soon, the group of ninjas found themselves standing in front of a small beaten up, wooden building. An old sign painted with faded red lettering told them that this was an inn. A light from an oil lantern spilled out from the dusty windows, lighting up the area around it. From the windows, Naruto could see a fire in a fireplace over in a corner. A rug with exotic patterns covered the wooden floor. Potted plants were placed on small, scattered tables and a golden retriever was sprawled out next to the fireplace. An elderly woman was sitting behind a small desk. Overall, the place looked very…homely. 

"Here is where we'll stay," Kakashi told them.

"Here!" Sakura yelled incredulously, looking at the inn disdainfully.

"Yes…" Kakashi answered, walking to the door and opening it. "C'mon. It's getting dark. And we'll just be staying here for a few days."

"Okay…" Sakura said slowly. She walked through the door Kakashi held open and blinked in the bright light. Sasuke started for the door, as well, but stopped and turned to Naruto. His eyes were strangely glazed over.

"Naruto…are you coming?" he asked the blond worridly. That seemed to snap him out of his reverie. Naruto blinked.

"Meh?" Naruto questioned.

"Is anything wrong, Naruto? You look dead…ish…"

"Eh? Ah! Oh! Aheh!" Naruto managed to say as he snapped back to reality. "I'm fine! I'm fine! Yeah, let's go!"

Grabbing Sasuke's arm, he dragged the Uchiha through the door. Chuckling to himself, Kakashi walked through the door after Naruto and Sasuke, closing the door behind him.

* * *

**A/N:** Hey people! I'm so sorry that this chapter is so short! Oh yeah, just a heads-up, but…the next couple ones will be kinda…dramatic? Oh, and lots more of yummy SasuNaru fluff is coming, too!

And no one has answered weather I should make this a SasuNaru yaoi, or just keep leaving hints of it? Hmm…I really don't know…

Review or I'll eat your children! XD


	13. To Be Happy

**A/N:** …Why the hell did I name the dog 'Bingo'? …I really do astound myself sometimes…And the reason for the real receptionist bought birthday candles is because of a bad habit of mine.

Whenever people see me, I usually have birthday candle or a chopstick in my mouth. Some people think I'm secretly a smoker, but I'm not and I never plan on becoming a living ash tray. No offense to people who do smoke, it's just not something I do.

My birthday is on February 24th, and three of my friends' birthdays are right next to mine (22nd, 23rd, 26th). I do really random things when I get hyper, I got hyper at every single one of my friends' parties, and for 4 days, I had a candle in my mouth for no reason at all. After the birthdays were over, it felt really, REALLY weird not having a candle in my mouth. Even now, I still feel uncomfortable not having one. I don't eat them, or anything. I just keep them there…hmm…

Oh, and I based the real receptionist on the tour guide, Chocolate, from Tales of Symphonia. That game rocks… or on Mitsuko from the movie 'Puny Puny Poemy'… disturbing movie… -shivers- Anyway, they're both basically the same…

* * *

Chapter 13

To be happy…

"Oh…hey, it's warm in here…" Naruto rubbed him pink-tinged cheeks, laughing cutely. Suddenly he heard a deep growl, making him spin around. Next to the fireplace, the big golden retriever he saw before was growling at him.

"Oh, stop that, Bingo."

Naruto turned back around to face the person who spoke. It was the aged woman behind the desk.

"I'm sorry, child. I don't know what's gotten into him. He doesn't usually growl at people," she offered a warm smile. But the dog continued to growl at Naruto.

"Excuse me," Kakashi approached the woman. "Would you happen to be the receptionist? We would like to rent out a room for a few days."

"Oh, I'm sorry. But no, I'm not. I'm just a stand-in until the real receptionist returns. Right now, she's out buying birthday candles and dog-food. She should return soon," the woman informed them.

Just as she finished her sentence, the growling stopped and the dog stared at the door expectantly. A small click echoed through the room, causing everyone else to look at the door as well. Suddenly, the door swung open, revealing a young, petite girl with dark brown hair tied into a side-ponytail. In her arms was a brown paper bag filled with cans.

The girl bounced into the room, not noticing Kakashi, Sakura, Sasuke, or Naruto over the bag in her face.

"Grandma! I'm back! I almost didn't make it, the store closed right after I left! Did everything go alright while I was gone?" she asked as she set the bag down on the little desk.

"Oh, actually, we have company," the old woman replied, smiling.

"Hmm?" the girl tilted her head to the side in a confused manner as she turned around, searching for the so-called 'company'.

"Yes, these people want to rent a room for a few days. Is that alright, Hatomi dear?"

The girl eyed the group, studying each face carefully. Kakashi raised his uncovered eyebrow dubiously.

"Is something wrong?" he asked.

"Um…no, it's just…I don't think I've ever seen your faces around here…Are you new here?"

Kakashi nodded.

"Oh…um…so, where are you guys from?" Hatomi asked curiously.

"The Village hidden in the Leaves," Kakashi replied. Suddenly, the receptionist tensed and her eyes narrowed as she re-scrutinized Kakashi, Sakura, Sasuke, and Naruto for the second time.

"Wait…so you're the group from the Land of Fire?" she asked hesitantly. When the group nodded, her face became hard and rigid. "Get out. Get out now. I don't want to ever see any of your faces again. GET OUT!" she yelled when no one moved.

"Oh, Hatomi! What is wrong with you!" the older woman asked, shocked. Turning to her grandma she tried to explain in a calmer tone of voice.

"Grandma…these are the people are bad people…! They're the ones from the Village hidden in the Leaves! I heard about them in the market…The Uzamaki boy is traveling with them…! I overheard two of Mizukage's personal shinobi warning the store owner about him…and I won't let him in this inn!" By the time the girl had finished, she was shouting again.

"Oh…dear…" the woman muttered.

Naruto clenched his fists in anger, eyes flaring. "What! We can't stay! Just because of me!"

Hatomi stiffened and the dog rose to his feet, snarling at the enraged blond.

"…I see…" Kakashi muttered. Turning to the raging blond ninja and put a hand on his shoulder. "Naruto, calm down…It's alright, we can find a place to stay elsewhere."

"Heh, good luck!" Hatomi scoffed. "This is the only inn in this town. It's either lodge here or camp out! And since the Uzamaki boy is with you, your only choice is to get out before I have you thrown out!"

Kakashi sighed. "Okay then. We'll camp out. Is that alright, team?"

"You mean…we have to sleep in the forest!" Sakura yelled. "No way!"

"Sakura…drop it…" Sasuke threatened as he strode over to a trembling Naruto. He didn't seem to be breathing. Grabbing Naruto by the waist, Sasuke led him away from the snarling dog and everyone else, Hatomi watching his every move.

"Naruto, you have to calm down…now breathe…" Sasuke gently patted Naruto's still rosy cheeks, waking him back up from his reverie. Slowly, Naruto began to breathe again, making Sasuke smile.

"There…I'm fine…" Naruto muttered.

Sasuke nodded his approval as Naruto continued to take deep breaths as an attempt to calm himself down, but his hand lingered on Naruto's cheek, warming both, his hand and Naruto's cheeks.

"Good….keep breathing. Naruto, don't worry about her…she's nothing," Sasuke tried to soothe.

"S-Sasuke…I don't care about her…it's you I care about…" Naruto said through clenched teeth.

Sasuke's eyes widened and he fidgeted uncomfortably. He awkwardly removed his hand from Naruto's cheek and let it drop back down by his side. "Um…"

"You, and…and Sakura and Kakashi…all of you have to sleep out in the forest because of me…I'm sorry…It's my fault," Naruto eyes suddenly became tense as he became angry. "No…You guys will stay here…at the inn…"

"What?" Sasuke asked. But Naruto, ignoring him, turned away from the Uchiha and faced Hitomi.

"Hey, you!" Naruto shouted over the dog's growling. The girl stiffened and her eyes narrowed suspiciously. "If I leave and stay outside of the village, will you let my team stay here?" Naruto continued.

"What! Naruto!" Sasuke yelled. "What are you doing!"

"You guys stay here, and I'll go camp out. That way at least you will have a place to stay…if that's alright with you?" Naruto directed his question to the receptionist.

"Wha—uh…oh, um…" she stuttered, caught off guard by Naruto's request. "Well…I guess as long as you can pay for it and _he_ doesn't stay here, I suppose I could rent you out a room…but only if that kid doesn't come _anywhere_ near here…"

"Give it a rest, already!" Sasuke shouted, becoming pissed off. "AND WILL SOMEONE SHUT THAT DAMN DOG UP!" The golden retriever stopped barking and began to whimper, backing away from Sasuke with his tail between his legs. Naruto smiled, glad that his ears were finally allowed peace and quiet. All of that noise had given him a headache.

"Fine, fine! I'll get you guys a room!" Hatomi said irritably, rubbing her temples. While she began to file some paperwork, the retriever still backed in a corner and the old woman twiddling her thumbs, Kakashi and Sakura crowded around Naruto.

"Naruto, you don't have to sleep out there alone. We don't mind sleeping in the forest, ya know," Kakashi put a firm hand on Naruto's shoulder, shaking him slightly.

"It's alright…" Naruto said, shaking off Kakashi's hand. "I don't mind being alone. I want to do this; Kakashi-sensei…please let me. I want you guys to stay here…Just think of me sleeping out there alone as a training exercise. That's how I think of it. Please stay here. Besides, I don't want to share a room with Sasuke-teme anyway. I'd say that this choice is better for me…" Naruto joked, grinning at Sasuke playfully. (No pun intended)

"Dobe…" Sasuke sighed, stepping closer to the blond boy and putting his hand on his shoulder. This time, Naruto didn't shake off the hand on his shoulder, but let it rest there. (Pun intended) Naruto immediately sobered up at the touch and looked up at Sasuke with his bright cerulean eyes. He opened his mouth to say something to comfort the troubled Uchiha, but was interrupted by Hatomi.

"Alright…All you have to do is pay and sign a few papers," she called to them, waving a stack of papers around. The old woman next to her had peacefully fallen asleep on the tiny desk.

"Alright," Kakashi strolled over to her and grabbed the papers. Hatomi handed the jonin a pen and Kakashi began to flip through the papers, reading various parts and occasionally signing something. Hatomi watched him for a few moments, before remembering that Naruto Uzamaki was still in the same building as she was.

Turning to the blond boy, she shouted sharply, "Get out!"

Sasuke's grip on Naruto's shoulder tightened as he pulled him back protectively. Not liking being yanked around, Naruto slipped away from Sasuke's grasp and back away.

"Alright! Alright!" Naruto shouted back as he headed towards the door. Kakashi looked up from the pile of papers and gestured to Sasuke and Sakura.

"Do you think you two can go with him and help him set up? I'm sorry, but I'm stuck here," he asked.

"Sure thing, Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura exclaimed excitedly. (Wow…that's the first time I've ever used the word 'exclaimed' in any of my stories/fanfics/comics/essays…and I promised myself I wouldn't do that, dammit…—goes to cry in a corner—)

As the three friends left the house and walked through the now-empty streets, Naruto tried to look happy again…but failed. And worse: Sakura and Sasuke noticed.

"Naruto…you really didn't deserve that…I'm sorry…" Sasuke muttered to Naruto solemnly as he strode over to Naruto's side.

"Yeah!" Sakura bounced to Naruto's other side. "If we weren't on 'thin ice' already, I would've beaten the pulp out of her! Right Sasuke-kun?" she shouted, punching the air.

Naruto looked up at Sasuke for his answer.

"Y-Yeah…" Sasuke said apathetically, looking away from Naruto's searching gaze. Hey, it was hard for an Uchiha to be enthusiastic.

Naruto smiled at this, knowing his friends were trying their best to cheer him up. Knowing that at least someone wanted him to be happy made him smile. Seeing Naruto smile meekly made both, Sasuke and Sakura smile, too.

"C'mon! Let's go find a clearing where I can sleep!" Naruto shouted with renewed happiness, racing ahead to the boundaries of the town. Once he reached the edge of the forest, he stopped and waited for his two friends to catch up.

"Hurry up!" he called out.

Suddenly, a small popping noise from behind him made him jump.

"Boo…" someone whispered in his ear. As Naruto jumped about ten feet in the air, he heard chuckling. Turning around quickly, Naruto faced the source of the noise and glared…

"Sasuke-teme!" he shouted. "You fricken scared me poopless!"

Sasuke laughed again as he stepped out of the shadows. Naruto ran over to him and tried to sock Sasuke one in the arm.

"Take that, teme!"

**(If you don't like SasuNaru, skip to the next bold part)**

But he was, of course, too slow. Sasuke raised his hand, making Naruto punch that instead of his arm. Naruto growled and tried to bring his hand back to punch out at Sasuke again, but Sasuke closed his hand around Naruto's smaller one, stopping it's jerking.

"Hey! Lemme go!" Naruto yelled breathlessly.

"You know, dobe, you didn't have to run all the way here…" Sasuke chuckled, noting how out of breath Naruto was.

Naruto blushed before swinging his other fist at Sasuke. "I know, okay! I just wasn't thinking…"

Sasuke dodged the blow and stepped closer to Naruto, who was still wriggling to free his hand. A small smile danced around his lips as he raised a hand grasped one of Naruto's soft, golden strands of hair. Naruto stopped moving. Glancing down at him, Sasuke released the strand of hair and moved his hand higher. Running his hand through the supple tresses, Sasuke savored how silky Naruto's hair felt against his fingers. Releasing Naruto's fist, Sasuke gently placed his now-free hand on Naruto's cheek. Naruto's hands fell limply to his side. Slowly, Sasuke moved his hand on Naruto's cheek down to the nape of his neck, making Naruto shiver.

"Meep…" Naruto meeped. Suddenly Sasuke froze, as if realizing what it was that he was doing for the first time. Instinctively, Sasuke drew back, away from Naruto.

"Uh…" Sasuke stuttered. Stepping forward, Sasuke put his arms on Naruto's shoulder.

"Naruto…I…" Sasuke started, but both, he and Naruto froze at the sound of small, running footfalls.

"Heeey!" cried a voice, making Naruto jump. But then he tripped over Sasuke's legs and pitched forward.

"Ahhh!" Naruto cried as he grabbed onto Sasuke for balance, making them both fall.

"Naruto!" Sasuke yelled agitatedly as they both crashed to the ground. "You're holding my head!"

Naruto opened his eyes and looked down at Sasuke. As he fell, Naruto had wrapped his arms around Sasuke's head to try and regain stability. But he failed, making both of the chunins fall to the ground.

"Guys! Sasuke-kun, Naruto! Both of you just left me! Where are you!" cried the voice.

"Sakura…" Sasuke muttered.

Naruto glanced over his shoulder, but then glared back down at Sasuke.

"Let go of my shirt!" he yelled.

"I will once you get off of me, dobe! Or do you plan on keeping me lying here all night? Not that I'd really mind, but if that is what you're planning, can you move to a different position? I don't particularly enjoy being felt up by leather shoes…" Sasuke shot back.

"Huh…?" Naruto tilted his head to the side, confused, before looking down at where his foot was.

"Ah!" Naruto yelled once he saw where his foot was positioned. He immediately got to his feet and dusted himself off. Turning to Sasuke, he stretched his hand out to help him up. Sasuke took it and rose to his feet as well.

**(Okay, the SasuNaru is over)**

"Ha! There you guys are!" Naruto and Sasuke turned their heads to see Sakura running towards them.

"You guys left me behind!" she accused.

"Sakura, just because you're too slow to catch up with us doesn't mean we left you…" Sasuke tried to reason.

"Well let's start making Naruto's bed…" Sakura sighed. "I managed to get a bunch of blankets and a kakebuton from Kakashi-sensei. Okay, let's get started!"

"What! No, you guys don't have to make it!" Naruto protested.

"We know, but we'll make it anyway…" Sasuke took a few blankets from Sakura and strode over to a giant tree. "Here's where you'll sleep…"

Sasuke laid down the blankets and began to work. Sakura strode over to his side and helped put down blanket after blanket, laying the kakebuton on top. Soon, Naruto had his own personal bed. Sakura took a step back to examine their creation. Dusting her hands off, she smiled.

"There…all done!" she said proudly.

"Um…it's great, Sakura…it really is…but you shouldn't have gone through all of the trouble…" Naruto told her as he examined his 'bed'. It was pretty big.

"I don't like it…" Sasuke said suddenly.

"What! But Sasuke-kun…"

"I'll be right back," he said before pulling out a kunai. Walking into the forest with the kunai drawn, he left the little area.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura called after him, before turning to Naruto. "Where do you think he's going?"

Naruto shrugged, worried.

* * *

Sasuke came back shortly after he left carrying an armful of saplings.

"Sasuke-kun, what are those for?" Sakura asked. Sasuke didn't answer. Instead, he laid out the sapling and began to slash away with his dagger. After Sasuke had all of the saplings specifically cut, he started to line them up around Naruto's bed. Using the hotal-things around his arms, Sasuke tied the pieces together, making a small cubical around Naruto's bed. Once all of the saplings were gone, Sasuke had made a small hut for Naruto. Naruto's eyes widened.

"S-Sasuke…you—it…uh…" Naruto blinked, then grinned shyly. "…Thank you…"

Naruto ran to Sasuke and wrapped his arms around the Uchiha. At first, Sasuke just stood there, stunned. But slowly he came back to life and returned the hug. Slowly, he leaned over to mutter something to Naruto, leaning over so far that his lips brushed Naruto's ear.

"Naruto…I just want you to be happy…please…please be happy…" Sasuke whispered.

Naruto's face grew somber, but he was able to change his 'mask' just as Sasuke released him and drew away. Without giving Naruto a second glance, Sasuke strode over to Sakura, grabbed her wrist, and led her away. Naruto watched them go, feeling hot tears forming in the corner of his eyes. He was just about to turn and enter his little hut when he thought he saw Sasuke turn and stare at him. But when Naruto blinked, Sasuke was still walking away.

…'_please be happy'_…

Sasuke's words echoed in Naruto's mind as he pondered what it was that made him truly happy. Slowly and ruefully, Naruto took his eyes off Sasuke and entered his little hut…

* * *

**A/N: **Hey people! Guess what! You'll all be happy to hear that I finally have my mojo (did I spell that right?) back! I don't remember ever writing any part of this chapter, which can only mean...I'M BACK!

Yay...

So sorry that the ending of this chapter sucks so much...I was really rushing through it. Ya see, last time I tried to update anything longer than 8 pages, my computer froze up...TT...So yeah, I couldn't write anymore, because I only had 4 spaces left before I hit 9 pages...

Anyway, hope you enjoyed! So sorry that I keep torturing Naruto...DON'T KILL ME!

...AND REVIEW INSTEAD!


	14. Sunset part I

**A/N:** Hey people! Oh-My-God, you reviewers are all so awesome! But hey, I dedicate this chapter to **Tsukasaru**! Glad you're likin' my story! Um…sorry about that whole 'invading your-mind-and-forcing-you-to-like-this-pairing thing'…I tend to do that way more than I should. Is it a good thing that you now like SasuNaru? Heh, what am I saying, of course it is! Now I have one more person added to my army of yaoi lovers! As soon as I take over the world with SasuNaru, I swear you'll be on my good side!

Yaoi lovers, there'll be more hints of SasuNaru next couple chapter when Sasuke takes a depressed Naruto out to lunch. Yaoi haters, I won't invade your minds until much later in the story. Basically, there's gonna be actual SasuNaru closer to the end of the story. So yaoi lovers, you now have something to look forward to, SO KEEP READING! Yaoi haters—, thanks for sticking with me for so long. Now you can keep reading for a little while longer before real juicy stuff starts….Muwahahaha…I will respect anyone's choice of pairings, but as soon as you start insulting me…I **WILL** INVADE YOUR MINDS AND **FORCE** YOU TO READ/WATCH/ **LOVE **SasuNaru!

By the way, this chapter has a bit more angst in it…more awesome comic relief later!

Oh, and **Tsukasaru**…YOU ROCK TOO! snaps to you

And **Satoshi Silver Syoran**…OF COURSE YOU CAN BE MY FRIEND! Now I can party 5 days in a row! I CAN FINALLY BREAK MY SLEEP-DEPRIVATION RECORD! (saysSays in my profile how long I've been without sleep. If anyone can beat that, tell me so I can throw my thousands of fuzzy dice at you! )

* * *

Chapter 14

Sunset – Part I

_Something about the way the room smelled was enough to make Naruto cringe. No matter how long he had been sitting in there, counting the hours, finding useless things to do to entertain his numb and utterly closed mind, he couldn't get used to the smell in the room. Like a room that had just finished being built: sawdust and mildew. As accustomed to it as he had become, Naruto hated it. Whenever he entered a room like this, he always thought up an excuse to leave. Going into rooms like that reminded him of this room, this cell, this…cage…_

_From where Naruto sat, just a small tattered lump covered in a kimono cloth, he stared at the small, barred window with hate pulsing through his veins. Orange light poured between the bars, lighting up the room, making it seem like the world itself was on fire. The blond boy could tell that it was sunset, and knew the sky was the most beautiful during this time. Naruto wanted so badly to run to the window and peak over its edge and see for himself what a sunset actually looked like._

_Slowly tearing his eyes away from the luminous, orange lit window, Naruto looked down at the small, lone toy in the opposite corner of where he sat. It was the ball-and-cup game, his favorite toy. He wanted so badly to go over and pick it up and play with it, sitting for hours, swinging that stupid little ball around until he could get it into that stupid little cup, then revel silently in the feeling of congratulating himself, then sinking down in a sobbing mess when he realized no one else was there to feel good for him. He wanted that toy…but he couldn't have it. He wasn't allowed - if he went anywhere near that corner, Mitsuko-sama would hurt him again. _

_For a really long time, Naruto had been living on his own in the streets, avoiding people at all times. He was eventually found by a very well-dressed, stern-looking woman. Apparently, the residents of the Village hidden in the Leaves considered Naruto to be a bother, so complaints were sent to the Hokage, forcing him to put Naruto into a shelter until he was old enough to take care of himself. That's why that woman made Naruto leave with her: to give him a place to stay for a while. Naruto was told to call her Mitsuko-sama._

_Mitsuko-sama turned out to be the warden of a children's shelter. Because of Naruto's 'special' circumstances, she put him in solitary confinement, keeping him away from other people in case the demon inside of the poor child took over. She was very cruel to him, using force whenever she could. Naruto often missed meals for days in a row because Mitsuko-sama "happened" to forget to bring him food. Naruto always wondered why she hated him so much…_

_He found out later. Six years ago, when the fox-demon attacked, Mitsuko-sama's husband went to fight it, and never came back. Still angry, she blamed Naruto for her husband's death, making his stay with her as hellish as she could._

_Sometimes, when Mitsuko-sama was in a very foul mood, Naruto would be her stress relief. Many bruises and scars still lingered from when the government's supporting check came two weeks late last month. Mitsuko-sama came storming into Naruto's cell-like room, working herself into a fury. _

_When Naruto had asked what was wrong, she shouted at him…_

'**_You stupid, ignorant fool! You don't understand anything!'_**

…_and then resorted to violence._

_So there was just no way Naruto could crawl over to that corner and play with the toy. Mitsuko-sama would find out, and hurt him again. She would know if Naruto inched to that stupid ball-and-cup toy and played with it…She would know if Naruto crawled to the barred window and pulled himself up to see that wonderful sunset like he so desperately wanted to…She would know if Naruto even moved…She would know…She always knew…The blond boy tried to take his eyes away from the toy—it only filled him with dread and hopelessness._

_Slowly, Naruto pulled his knees up, making the tattered and bloodied cloth fall to his thighs. Pressing his forehead to his knees, he took a shaky breath to keep his securely locked up tears at bay._

'_I hate being seven…' Naruto thought to himself absently. 'Maybe if I was older, I could handle this better…'_

_Sudden sets of footfalls interrupted his thoughts. Naruto raised his head and stared at the wooden sliding door, eyes wide with surprise and anticipation. There were more than one pair of footfalls…there seemed to be only two, though. Naruto shrank back, trying to make himself as small and unnoticeable as possible. He could hear voices down the hall, getting closer. One of the owners of the footsteps person had a deeper voice—definitely a male. But…who was he…?_

"_**Are you sure there are no other children here? The Hokage told me that Uzamaki Naruto was sheltered here. So where is he!"** the male voice demanded. _

_Naruto's eyes widened even wider when he realized the conversation was about him. Curiosity, hope, and excitement all mixed into one emotion gradually started to suppress Naruto's fear at what would happen if he moved. Naruto crawled to his knees, staring at the door with an intense hope in his dazed, broken eyes. Someone was actually looking for him! But he froze, terrified. The first voice was followed by another voice—a sickeningly over-sweet voice that was trying too hard to sound friendly. It was Mitsuko-sama. The boy gasped to himself and sank back into his corner, expecting the door to fly open and have Mitsuko-sama come striding in. Aand as he curled in on himself, fighting a lump in his throat, preparing for the worst…the footsteps stopped. _

"_**Well, because of the boy's, um…'unique condition', I've had to put him in solitary confinement,"** Mitsuko-sama replied._

"_**You did what!"** the other voice shouted._

"_**You must understand, Mr. Iruka, that the safety of others depends on Uzamaki being away from them. Please understand that I am only concerned for the other children's safety,"** Mitsuko-sama answered coolly. _

'_I-Iruka…?' Naruto thought, rolling the name around in his mind. 'Iruka.'_

_The man named Iruka said something else, but Naruto didn't catch it. Mitsuko-sama said something back to him—it seemed to be an argument…then the voices were gone and the footsteps were moving away from the door. Naruto's heart sank._

'_No…come back…come back, let me out of here!' He began his pathetic crawling on his hands and knees towards the door, forgetting the threat ever-lingering above his head, the harsh whisper of Mitsuko-sama telling him to stay in his corner, to never leave his corner. Naruto could only think of getting out then. He got to the door and put his hands on the wooden ridges, attempting to pull himself up but finding no strength. He whimpered, near tears, his little hands pulling at the wood. At one point, his hands started sliding off and splinters dug themselves into his fingertips. He ignored them, however, and continued to try and lift himself up._

_Tears spilt over and Naruto started sobbing like the small child that he was. The room was dark—the sun had finally gone down. When he thought of this, he realized that he didn't have to pull himself up. He just had to open the door. His hands started searching for the place where the two doors met. His nails scratched against the wooden surfaces, causing the splinters to bury themselves further. He couldn't see the opening, he couldn't find it…it was hopeless…_

_Naruto continued to sob._

"_**Iruka…"** he hiccupped, sitting back and staring at his lap. **"Come back…I'm right here…"** Sudden anger seeped through him. Why did Iruka leave if he was looking for him! He was right there, right under his nose! So why did he leave! Naruto's breath hitched over and over again until he was almost hyperventilating. Angry, he raised his hands and started beating at the doors._

"_**IRUKA! IRUKA, COME BACK! PLEASE! PLEASE COME BACK! HELP ME! DON'T LEAVE ME IN HERE! DON'T LEAVE ME IN HERE!"** Naruto cried harder and louder, banging his fist against the door as hard as he could, trying to be heard. His hands hurt terribly, but he kept hitting the door with all of his might. He could feel the anger pulsing through him as he yelled._

_Suddenly Naruto stopped. The footsteps were back. Sudden light burst through the room, forcing Naruto to squeeze his eyes shut._

"_**So…you must be Naruto…"** the friendly male voice from before intoned. _

_Naruto looked up, squinting. Hovering above him was a friendly looking man with long, brown hair pulled back into a ponytail. A scar was gashed across one cheek to the other and across the bridge of his nose. A blue bandana with a swirly–thing on itetched into a metal plate attached it was tied around his forehead, proving that he was a ninja of the Village hidden in the Leaves. A warm smile graced his lips. Naruto stared up at him, amazed, before slowly backing away from the man. A voice from behind the man made both of them jump. A tall, blond, black-suited woman was running to catch up to the man. Naruto recognized her to be Mitsuko-sama._

"_**Mr. Iruka! I told you earlier that that room was off limits! It is a danger to you and everyone else to have opened that door!"** she shouted. She stopped at the door and glared down at Naruto. _

"_**Iruka…?"** Naruto meekly asked. The man glanced down at Naruto and nodded. Relief seeped through Naruto. He was going to be saved! He was finally going to leave this wretched place!_

"_**What is it that you have against him, Mrs. Mitsuko!"** Iruka demanded. Mitsuko-sama visibly stiffened._

"_**Do you not see the child's eyes, Mr. Iruka? They're purple—a sure sign of the demon hidden inside of him. His eyes are usually bright blue! He could snap any second and kill both you and me. He needs to be locked away immediately, and I'll see to it that he does,"** Mitsuko-sama said feirclyfiercely, her glare intensifying. Naruto shivered. The way Mitsuko-sama said that, Naruto knew she meant it. Sudden anger flared up in the pit of him stomach, making him feel nauseous. No one was going to force him back in that hellish cage! No one! He had had enough of being locked away, and now he was finally given a chance to be free of it all! There was no way Mitsuko-sama would take that chance away! _

_Suddenly overcome with rage, Naruto balled his small, bloody hands into fists, ignoring the pain that shot up his arms, and tugged his lips back into a snarl. Still glaring back at Mitsuko-sama, Naruto squinted his eyes, feeling even more nauseated as the room spun before him. Unexpected dizziness made the young blond boy squeeze his eyes shut. When he opened them again, everything had a strange scarlet hue to it. Mitsuko-sama's eyes widen as she backed away from the boy._

"_**His—his eyes are red…!"** Iruka stated, shocked. _

"_**Do you see!"** Mitsuko-sama pointed at Naruto, terrified. **"He's a demon! The child's a demon! He must be locked away at once, don't you see!"**_

_Naruto couldn't take it anymore. He was sick of this bitch calling him a demon. He just wanted everything to stop. He wanted to start over again, to make things better, and to never have to see this woman again. And he **could** start over with the help of this Iruka person. Mitsuko-sama was the only person keeping him from restarting his life, and Naruto would do absolutely **anything** to get her out of his way._

"_**I'm going to go call security so this fiend can be locked up once and for all!"** Just as Mitsuko-sama turned her back, Naruto lost every trace of thought and lunged out at her. His hands—which had gotten much bigger, making his small body seem to be out of proportion—stiffened into claws, his long, discrepant fingers reaching out for her. During the time his anger was building up, Naruto's whole body had becoame out of proportion. His nails on both, his hands and his bare feet had grown at least half-an-inch. _

_Time seemed to slow dramatically as Mitsuko-sama let out an ear-splitting scream as Naruto dug his claws into her body._

* * *

"Ahhh!" Naruto screamed as he sat up. His scream echoed out of the small shack that was had been made for him and into the forest surrounding him. Trying to crawl out of the kakebuton, Naruto realized the blankets were enveloping him, creating a straight jacket around his limber, equivalent body. Quickly struggling to tear the blankets off of him, Naruto couldn't stop blinking. A crimson shade still lingered from his dream.

As soon as he was able to wretch the blankets off of his shaking body, Naruto scooted back, off the kakebuton, wiping the invisible blood he could feel crawling up his arms away. He kept scooting backwards until his back met the wall of the shack. Even after he stopped moving back, he kept wiping his arms. For some reason, Naruto could feel blood dripping down his arms, even though there was none. His skin wouldn't stop crawling, and Goosebumps were creeping all up his body.

Once Naruto realized that he couldn't wipe away the feeling running through his shaking body, he curled into himself as he had in his dream. Bringing his knees up to his chest, he wrapped his arms around himself, hugging his knees closer. Taking a deep breath to steady himself, Naruto closed his eyes. He couldn't stop trembling.

A sudden squawk from above made Naruto's head snap up. A strange black bird with a red belly and head was peering down at him. The bird squawked again and cocked his crimson head to the side as he gazed at the trembling boy. The little bird's tiny body shook as it squawked. Naruto glared at it.

"Damn bird…" he muttered. "Quit mocking me…"

But seeing as how the bird hated Naruto even more than Oxy-Clean (that stuff sucks!), the bird continued to vibrate like a beaten up Furrbie doll who was thrown into a wall then run over by an umpa-lumpa driving a convertible Mercedes, pissing Naruto off even more.

…God…Am I really that violent? –Shivers–

Um…anyway…

Naruto continued to glare at the bird as his hand twitched to his right thigh, but stopped when he realized that he had untied his kunai sachet. Sighing, Naruto hung his head. He didn't bother getting up to fetch his kunai pouch for two reasons: at that moment, he didn't want to move because he was lazy like that and if AuthorSama killed another bird in this story, she'd be locked up in the place with squishy walls again by the APA (Animal Protection Agency).

"Damn bird…" he said again. Right now, he just wanted to be alone. When he was alone, he didn't have to worry about putting up his carefree mask. He didn't have to worry about anything when he was alone. He could be himself.

"Get out! Get out of here! Leave me alone! Stupid bird…" Naruto yelled out. His sudden outburst made the bird fly away, the only remaining traces of it ever being there were a few stray feathers, fluttering down above Naruto. Reaching up, Naruto snatched one and stared at the red plume in his palm, before clenching his hand into a fist, crushing the feather. Sighing, Naruto leaned his head back on the wooden wall and closed his eyes.

_I suppose I should be grateful to that damn bird…I'm not trembling anymore…_he thought to himself.

Suddenly realizing that he was alone, Naruto was overcome with emotion. Tears spilt over his eyes in remembrance of the dream, remembrance of everything that had happened to him throughout his life. Here, in this small village, he knew that his life would not get any easier. Tears trickled down his cheeks down to his chin. Naruto was about to lift a hand to wipe the tears away, but a sudden, overwhelming tiredness washed over him, making his arms fall limp.

But it didn't matter. He was finally alone, just like he wanted and just like he always was. He could let out his emotions in peace without fear of anyone seeing him.

Little did Naruto know, however, that as he sat there and cried, a certain raven-haired boy was keeping his mind open and alert, taking in every little detail of this new side of Naruto's mind that he had never witnessed before.

* * *

**A/N:** Meh, I didn't really like this chapter very much…So sorry for all of the angst. It started out as a dream, but I got more and more detailed, and…yeah…um…

Hey, you reviewers rock! I really hope you liked your chapter, **Tsukasaru **Anyway, you reviewers really are good to me. In another story I wrote, I accidentally made the main character come off as gay, and people didn't like that, so they threatened my life. That pissed me off, so to throw it back in their faces, I made the main character really gay. Which pissed them off. Ex:

beviis 2, anon.

hell no! don't make him gay god damn it. I will hunt you f-ing down b-!

Nononono  
2006-05-02  
ch 2, anon.

DON'T YOU DARE MAKE -------- GAY. I DON'T PARTICULARLY LIKE HIM BUT IF YOU MAKE HIM GAY I WILL HAVE TO TAN YOUR HIDE. THANK YOU.

caps off

Arya SilverFlame  
2006-04-15  
ch 2, reply

DO NOT MAKE HIM GAY IF YOU DO I WILL KILL YOU AND SEND YOU JUNK MAIL!

Grr...bastards...Wah, I need a hug...


	15. Sunset part II

**A/N:** You guys all suck! How could you do this to me! –whine– goes to cry in a corner

Meh, I'm just yanking your chain! (Is that how you say it?) You beautiful reviewers do not suck, I'm so sorry! I just can't believe so many of you chose E: Naruto's will…I DON'T WANT TO WRITE ANYMORE ANGST! Meh, once again, just kidding! Angst is my lover and always shall be, so I shall never desert it! Wait, um…anyway, the results are…

A)Cat 3 votes (15.8)

B)A pic of Garaa 2 votes (10.5)

C)A pic of Sasuke 3 votes (15.8)

D)Glitter 2 votes (10.5)

E)Naruto's will 9 votes (47.4)

(I can't believe I just did math on my vacation… –whine– does anyone wanna check that?)

So yeah…A would've meant the death of that damn sea gull and would've saved their lives at one point, B would've made Sasuke jealous, C would've weirded Sasuke out, D would've…hmm…I never really decided on that one…E…well…just read!

By the way, I finally decided to dedicate this chappy to **FireieGurl**! You really rock! High five! WHOOO! Seriously hope you like your chapter…WHOOO!

* * *

Chapter 15

Sunset – Part 2

"Sasuke-kun...are you okay? You seem...dead...ish..." Sakura asked her comrade, leaning in close to him and waving her hand in front of his face. Sasuke looked up at her, annoyed, his eyes still red from the sharingan's affects. (Thank you, **Aurora Jordan - Elfwood gue...**! If not for you, I still wouldn't know how to spell that! -bounce-) He hated it when people did that to him. He spaced out for a reason - to think - and he didn't want people bringing him out of his reverie, especially not by waving their hands in his face. (Is it just me or does Sasuke seem very OOC there...?)

"I'm fine..." he muttered, standing up. Sakura, seeing Sasuke's trademark annoyed scowl, backed off, but still seemed unconvinced. Raising her eyebrow, she put her hands on her hips.

"You don't look fine! ...Sasuke-kun, just tell me what's bugging you...Is it Naruto?" she asked hesitantly. Sasuke ignored her and strode over to the door of their room in the Inn, only stopping when Kakashi addressed him. Turning around, he set his attention on the leader of Squad 7.

"Sasuke...where are you going?" he asked the Uchiha calmly. Sasuke shrugged, not taking his eyes off of Kakashi.

"Out," he replied simply.

Kakashi shook his head disapprovingly. "You really shouldn't wander the streets of this village alone. You could be jumped by thugs or get lost."

Sasuke's face hardened. "You don't think a member of the Uchiha clan could defend himself against petty thieves? And, really, what makes you think that I would lose my way so easily?" Sasuke challenged.

Kakashi merely shrugged and smiled through that thing covering his face. "I'm not trying to keep you from going; I'm just making sure that you'll stay on your toes."

Sasuke adverted his gaze, regretting ever snapping at Kakashi, before turning around and sliding the door open. "I'll be back later..." he mumbled as he left the room and slid the door shut. Just as he headed towards the stairs, he could've sworn he heard Kakashi chuckling. Sasuke stopped and turned back towards the room they had rented. The door slid back open and Kakashi's head popped out, a broad grin stretched across his face.

"Tell Naruto I said 'hi'!" he called out. Sasuke glared at him as he went back inside and slid the door shut again. Slowly, Sasuke turned back towards the stairs and descended the steps.

* * *

Sasuke wandered the streets leading him to the edge of the forest where Naruto was. His sharingan was still in effect, making his eyes glow red. Sasuke could slightly feel the edge of Naruto's enclosed mind and began walking faster. People around him were watching him cautiously - some people in house watching him from a window closed the shutters immediately when Sasuke turned to look at them. He paid them no mind, as his main priority was getting to Naruto at that moment.

_Being a bit over-protective, are you not, mou hitori no boku?_ a teeny voice in the back of Sasuke's head enticed. Sasuke ignored it and continued towards the forest, but the voice droned on, echoing inside Sasuke's skull.

_Why should he matter so much to you? What has he ever done for you? You owe him nothing!_ the voice rang, louder this time.

This time, Sasuke answered the voice. _It doesn't matter what he's done for me, it's what I haven't done for him that really matters. Now leave me alone! Uchihas aren't supposed to talk to themselves! It's unusual and weird..._

But the voice still wasn't satisfied and didn't leave him alone. _Turn around, mou hitori no boku, turn around and go back... Why would Naruto-kun want to see you over anyone else, anyway? After what you did...or what you failed to do, I should say... it's really a surprise that he would ever want to see you again. It would be best for the both of you if you turned back right now, mou hitori no boku._

At this, Sasuke stopped in his tracks, his eyes wide as he stared at the ground. The red from the sharingan slowly faded back to its original cold, deep cobalt eyes. People around him stared at him curiously, but again, Sasuke paid no attention to them. He couldn't believe what he had just heard. For a very long time, Sasuke had been thinking those exact thoughts. The thought of Naruto leaving him for good because of what had happened had been ever-lingering above his head like a dark rain cloud that refused to go away. But actually hearing that Naruto didn't want him made Sasuke's thoughts sound so...so final...

A sudden sharp pain wiped away Sasuke's thoughts, doubling him over in pain. He clenched his head as visions flashed before his eyes.

* * *

_-flashback-_

_The room...was so dark... _

_If Sasuke were under any other circumstances, he would have been terrified senseless. After past experiences in his family, Sasuke learned how unforgiving and cruel the darkness could be. But he wasn't under different circumstances - he was in a small house with a small, blond child lying unconscious in a bed with dirty, unwashed sheets. A tall man, who knew a small amount about medical issues, was bandaging the child, wiping off the mass amount of blood drenching the blond boy. The child's body was mangled and broken, bruised and cut all over his body. Sasuke knew his own body was trembling uncontrollably and tears were ceaselessly falling down his pale cheeks in a watery cascade. Sasuke wringed both his tiny hands frantically. _

_The man finally took a step back to examine his less-than-perfect work after what seemed like a gut wrenching eternity. This man was the only person who would help the child. Everyone else, including professional doctors, acted as if the poor child was a deadly disease and wouldn't go anywhere near him. _

_Sasuke ran to the dirty bedside, his wide, cobalt eyes traveling up and down the other child's body, struggling to comprehend how hurt his friend was. Fresh bandages slowly becoming stained red were wrapped all around the child's body. The bandages were wrapped tightly around the upper half of the child's head, covering his eyes and bloody hair. His mouth was opened slightly – the child had a busted lip and it wouldn't seem to close. Sasuke could see that teeth were missing, leaving a bloody remnant. The crimson liquid slowly dripped down the child's cheek, a red path trailing from under the bandages around his head to his chin, making it seem as if the child had been crying blood. _

_A small sob escaped Sasuke's lips as he reached down and rubbed the blood away. Forgetting to be gentle with the broken boy, the man snatched his outstretched hand away from the child's face so Sasuke would hurt him any further. Sasuke's sobbing stopped, silent tears still trickling down his cheeks, as he stared at his hand. It was covered in blood – the other child's blood…_

_Sasuke screamed at the sight, knowing that if it weren't for him, the other child would be perfectly fine. Sasuke screamed again, frantically and desperately trying to wrench his hand free from the man's grasp so he wouldn't have to stare at the disgusting and disturbing sight any longer._

_The man let go of his hold on Sasuke's wrist, and Sasuke fell to his knees, trying to wipe the haunting blood away. Turning to his unconscious friend, Sasuke let another sob escape his trembling lips. Slowly, he began to crawl to the bedside where the child lay broken and grabbed at the dirty bed sheets as if they were his lifeline. He rested his head on the other child's arm and began to sob uncontrollably. _

"_**It's my fault…it's my fault…all my fault…"** he began to whimpering over and over again. **"I'm sorry…so sorry…I'm so sorry…don't die…stay here…stay with me…don't leave me…don't die…I'm…I'm sorry…"**_

_He let the tears fall from his face and onto the other child, burying his tear-stained face into the child's arm. _

"_**I'm so sorry! I-I promise…I promise I won't let you get hurt anymore…I promise you'll be okay…I won't leave you…I'll stay here…with you…I swear it…!"** Sasuke sobbed over and over again, becoming louder with every pledge. Soon he became so loud that the man behind him had to drag him out of the dark, little hut. _

"_**No! No! I can't leave him! I won't leave him!"** Sasuke shouted. _

_The man grasping Sasuke's arm silenced him and told him in a soothing voice, **"If you want him to get better, you can't be making this racket. He has to have peace and quiet, and you're causing the exact opposite. If you know what's good for your friend, then you'll stay away from him!"**_

_After that, the man dropped Sasuke off outside and shut the door. Sasuke stared at the door and continued to weep._

* * *

Sasuke opened his eyes, the voice in the back of his head forcing him to gratefully crash back into reality, releasing him from the hellish flashback.

_Don't you see how much hurt you caused him, mou hitori no boku? Even if he would forgive you, what makes you think that you deserve him? You weren't there for him before…time doesn't change everything, my sweet Sasuke…You are bound to your past by that which is even more binding than chains – your love._

By then, Sasuke had blocked out that little voice. Standing up straight, he began to run as fast as he could towards the direction of the forest, ignoring the stares he from people as he prayed with all his might that his legs wouldn't give out from under him. He could still hear the voice's whisper lingering in his ear, but Sasuke didn't care. Let it talk all it wanted to, it didn't matter. Nothing mattered except finding Naruto. He had to. He made a promise that he would stay with him, no matter what. So what's a little annoying voice compared to a promise like that?

Hmm…?

* * *

By the time Sasuke found the hut he had made for Naruto, his legs had died. Somehow, he had managed to revive them and continued on. Slowly, he came to a stop and managed to catch his breath. Looking around as he took deep breaths to steady himself, he noticed that there was no sign of life anywhere. Something must've scared the birds away, because none were in sight. When his breaths were once again even, he strode over to the opening of the hut and peered inside. He sobered up at what he saw.

Naruto was lying on his side, eyes closed. His tear-stained face was contorted in a pained grimace. He appeared to be sleeping, but by the way his facial features were twisted, he seemed to be having a very bad dream. He wasn't wearing his usual trademark orange jumpsuit, but instead had a black, fishnet, tunic thing on… (Oh my god, I have no clue how to describe the outfit underneath his orange outfit. You people know what I'm talking about, though, right? …RIGHT! ANSWER ME!) A cute little night cap-thing was on his head. (Ya know that hat…-grin-)

Sasuke, making sure that he did not make any noise to stir the seemingly sleeping blond boy, silently strode over to him. Kneeling down, Sasuke gently reached out to turn Naruto over to a more comfortable position. As he snaked his arms around Naruto's waist, he felt Naruto jump at the touch. Turning around suspiciously fast in Sasuke's arms, Naruto gazed up at him with frightened eyes. Jerking out of Sasuke's grasp, Naruto backed away, before realizing what was going on and stopped.

"Sas...suke…" Naruto muttered, before actually realizing that Sasuke was in front of him. Quickly, he raised a hand to wipe away the tears, but his hand was abruptly halted. Looking up, he saw Sasuke had grabbed his wrist.

"You're sad…" he stated.

"No shit…" Naruto mumbled to himself more than to Sasuke. The last thing he needed was his friends mad at him. But Sasuke chuckled.

"Why?"

"What…?" Naruto blinked, confused.

"Why are you sad?"

Naruto looked away, doggedly. "No reason…" he answered stubbornly.

Sasuke sighed. "Tell me, Naruto."

"I said no reason!"

"I don't care, I won't accept that answer from you…"

"Well then…no comment…"

"Naruto…" Sasuke growled threatening.

Naruto tried to cross his arms defiantly, but Sasuke still had a firm grasp on Naruto's wrist, so crossing his arms was kinda out of the question. Naruto scowled at Sasuke, who scowled back. A small frustrated growl managed to escape Naruto's lips. Trying to wriggle free from Sasuke's stupid hand, Naruto raised his other hand to tug at Sasuke's long fingers. But Sasuke trapped Naruto's other wrist as well, causing a quiet whimper from Naruto. A satisfied smirk threatened to tug at Sasuke's lips knowing that he had won the argument, but he managed to restrain it.

"Sasuke-teme!" Naruto shouted in a defeated tone. "Let me go…teme…"

Sasuke couldn't help but smile. He had the upper hand now. "Fine…As soon as you tell what's been troubling you, I'll free you…"

At first Naruto didn't say anything to Sasuke. He leaned closer and was able to hear Naruto mumbling things like, "Stupid teme…" and "Go to hell…". Sasuke chuckled again. After a few moments, Naruto finally spoke out.

"Why…w-why can't you just…leave me alone…?"

"W-what!" Sasuke stuttered.

"I don't want you to be here right now…I just wanted to be alone. I don't like being asked questions, you know that…Sasuke...Sasuke…I'm sorry…" Naruto said, not looking at Sasuke. He was terrified that Sasuke wouldn't want to talk to him anymore, but at that moment, he didn't want anyone around him. When Sasuke didn't answer, Naruto finally looked up. Sasuke seemed to be deep in thought and wasn't looking at Naruto. His head was turned to the side and his face was shadowed.

"Sa…s…" Naruto mumbled, bring Sasuke back to reality. Naruto gave him an apologetic look, but Sasuke didn't notice. Instead, he untangled his hands from Naruto's wrists and stood up. As Naruto felt his hands slip away, he felt a sudden wave of remorse. Sasuke turned away and began to walk back to the opening of the little hut. Before he left the hut, however, Naruto called out to him.

"I'm…sorry, Sasuke…"

Sasuke stopped and turned around to face the blond shinobi. The Uchiha offered a reassuring smile before turning around again, leaving the hut.

* * *

**A/N: **Okay, one more part! I couldn't get everything that was on my mind in this chappy, so sorry! That means that there will be one more 'Sunset' part. Heehee…I hope Sasuke's little flashback left you utterly confused! I promise that both Sasuke and Naruto's flashbacks will be explained! Or wait…was Naruto's little dream a flashback or not?…Meh, I haven't decided yet…And my apologies for making Sasuke so out-of-character during the flashback... Aheh...but he was just a little kid, at that was before he became all OC and angsty... so just gimmie some slack! Meh...TT

Oh, and the little voice in Sasuke's head…it said something with the word 'love' in it. Sorry to raise yaoi-lovers' hope, but it wasn't meant as 'in love' love. Kinda like, 'I love you, but I'm not in love with you…so sorry, darling…maybe when you get more money, we'll talk.'. Meh, love is nothing but a joke without a punch line…

Oh, and I've been meaning to ask this for a while…I could really use someone to…help me? I dunno, to talk with. To get their opinion as a reader, I suppose… would anyone be interested? Hmm…?

Oh, and yay for**FireieGurl**! You liked it, right? Tell me if you didn't so I can make another chapter for you! One that you might like!

And thank you, **Hinjintetsusou**, for pointing out that I wasn't quite descriptive on what I meant by 'scare' on the poll. I meant just weird Sasuke out…like the glitter…as a comic relief, but apparently that wasn't how it came off to my readers… Meh, bad call on my part…TT


	16. Sunset part III

**A/N:** Wah...um...no comment...for once! XD! Wait! Actually -

Bleh...More SasuNaru later on in this chapter, along with angst and a little gore (Don't worry, yaoi haters! There _is_ a heads-up!) But yeah... I really am hating the way this story is going, at least with the shounen-ai parts (I never could spell that right, dammit!)... I can't tell if I think there's too much suggestive-ness going on, or not enough... Meh, it's tearing me to pieces! What do you yaoi-lovers think? It's so depressing... -cry- Help me! Sould I make more cute, fluffy moments, or not? And I decided not to dedicate this chappy to anyone, I really don't feel like doing that right now... Meh, maybe I'm just being a bitch...

I need a hug...O.O

By the way, the whole thing Sasuke 'imagined-thing' with the unconcious kid will be fully explained here. I was too lazy to put it all together, so if you want the full story, just...um...I dunno, ask and I guess I'll put it together for you, maybe adding a few parts in, and send it to you. Bleh, I'm so confused!

* * *

Chapter 16

Sunset – Part III

"_**Sasuke! Don't just stand there – help me!" **_

"_**And what do you expect me to do?"**_

"_**I dunno…push me up or something!" **_

_Sasuke gave the hyperactive boy in front of him a half-hearted glare, but it was quickly replaced with a grin. The younger boy in front of him was clinging to a wide, giant oak tree, trying his best to pull himself up. Unfortunately for him, he failed dreadfully and slid down the trunk, landing on his rump when he hit the bottom. Sasuke wrapped his arms around him, tenderly pulling him to his feet. Once the smaller child was in a standing position, Sasuke grabbed his waist, making the child squirm, and used all of his strength to lift him up. Immediately, he felt a strain on his small arms as the child flailed around. _

"_**Arrg…Naru…Naruto…You're way too heavy!"** Sasuke yelled out, his voice being muffled by Naruto's shirt. As Naruto moved around, Sasuke could feel the small of Naruto's back ramming into his cheek, and it was really starting to annoy him. Slightly opening one of his dark blue eyes, he peered up at the child squirming in his arms and smiled. Naruto was stretching his arm as hard as he could, trying to reach as high as his hand would take him. Waving his arm around, Naruto was trying so desperately to reach a branch only a few inches above his fingertips. Cold, chilling sweat was starting to drip down the side of Sasuke's face and down his back from holding up such weight for as long as he had. _

"…_**Al…most…"** he could hear Naruto muttering, his voice strained from his struggle to reach higher. _

_Sasuke chuckled as he stood on his tippy-toes, using all of his might to try to lift the blond boy higher. All he needed was a few inches - that was all. Sasuke looked up at the sound of an aggravated growl. Naruto had indeed gotten a few inches higher – Sasuke's struggles had paid off – but now, his small, delicate fingertips were only brushing the tree branch. Naruto let out another irritated growl as he attempted to wrap his tiny fingers around it, failing miserably, yet again. Suddenly, the strength in Sasuke's arms left him and his arms became limp. Squeezing his eyes shut, he prepared himself for the weight that was about to tumble down upon him. He heard Naruto's gasp and felt all of the younger boy's body weight being shifted onto Sasuke. Both boys collapsed on top of each other, grumbling about their newfound hatred of wide, giant oak trees. _

* * *

Sasuke watched impassively as a small rock tumbled down the side of the cliff, shaking his head as an attempt to rid himself of the memory. Glancing over his shoulder, he gazed in the direction of where the small shack was. He still couldn't comprehend what had happened. He kept telling himself that Naruto wanted to be alone to sort out what ever had happened to make him so sad, but the small voice inside his head was telling him differently. 

_You knew he wouldn't have wanted you, mou hitori no boku…_

"…That's not it…" Sasuke answered aloud.

_Then why did he push you away?_

Sasuke ignored the voice and grabbed another rock from next to a tree, fingering its smooth edge for a moment, before flinging it over the cliff and watching it plummet to its doom. After Naruto had asked him to leave, Sasuke wandered around, lost in his thoughts. If not for a random cat jumping out of the bushes next to him, bringing him out of his reverie, Sasuke would've been plummeting to his doom as well as the many rocks he threw over. Thinking that wandering around while spacing out could be pretty dangerous, Sasuke decided to throw rocks over the cliff and watch them fall to their death instead. Muwahahaha…

Sasuke didn't know how much time had passed since he wandered off on his own, but the sun was high above his head when he first left the inn - now it was beginning to go down, lighting up the sky with colors that couldn't be seen during the day.

He found another stone as big as his palm and, sighing, stood up and tossed it into the dying sun.

* * *

"_**That didn't help at all!"** Naruto whined from on top of Sasuke. _

"_**I could try something else if you'd just get off me!"** Sasuke yelled, his voice once again muffled by Naruto's shirt. The two untangled themselves from the other and stood up, glaring at the other. Feeling all of the strength depleting from his arms, Sasuke eyed the tree dispassionately. _

"_**Can't you do this yourself, Naruto? My arms hurt…"** Sasuke complained. _

"_**Just think about how my arms feel, Sasuke!"** Naruto snapped. Sasuke didn't answer, so Naruto let out an irritated sigh and turned to the tree again. Jumping up with his arm outstretched, Naruto made a grab for the branch, but it was high above his head now that he didn't have Sasuke's support to help him up. After realizing that he couldn't reach the stupid branch without Sasuke, Naruto let his arm fall back to his side and hung his head dejectedly. Kneeling down, he sat back on his heels and began rocking back and forth, trying to figure out how to climb the tree without Sasuke. But seeing as how the whole reason he was even attempting to climb the tree was to impress Sasuke, Sasuke had to fit into his plan somewhere. Suddenly, Naruto felt a presence kneeling next to him. He looked over and saw Sasuke on all fours._

"_**Get on,"** he said simply. _

"…_**What?" **_

"_**Get on my back. If you really want to climb that stupid tree, I'll help, okay? Now get on, quick, before I change my mind. Uchihas aren't supposed to kneel down for no one, so hurry up! I hate being on the ground,"** Sasuke answered in the most dignified voice he could muster. As Naruto realized what Sasuke meant, his face lit up and he broke out into a grin. _

"_**Heehee…Sasuke loves me…"** he giggled as he stood up._

"_**Hurry up…"** Sasuke growled in response. Naruto nodded and swung one of his legs over Sasuke's back. After Sasuke took a few moments to psych himself up and ready himself, he summoned every ounce of his strength and rose to his feet. He felt his knees buckle and he nearly toppled over with Naruto on his shoulders. Naruto clung to Sasuke's head, making Sasuke sway with the extra weight, but the two boys managed to find a mutual, jointed balance after clinging to the tree for dear life. After steadying themselves, Naruto glanced up and saw that he had released his death grip on Sasuke's head and wrapped his arms around the branch._

"_**I got it!"** he yelled to Sasuke, grinning. _

"_**Then stop…putting…all of your…weight on me!" **Sasuke yelled back. _

"_**Oh! Sorry!"** Naruto apologized before untangling his slender legs from Sasuke's body. Sasuke ducked out from under the blond boy's legs and stepped back, watching as Naruto struggled to swing his legs over the branch. As soon as he was in the sitting position, he slowly and carefully stood up and reached for another branch above his head. After that, he continued to climb higher and higher up the tree._

* * *

Sasuke turned at the sound of rustling from behind him, dropping yet another rock that his hand had managed to find without Sasuke knowing it. He felt his fingers twitch towards the kunai sachet tied to his thigh. Letting his fingers slip under the casing of the pouch, he froze when he saw who it was coming out of the bushes. Not a cat, this time, but a blond shinobi wearing an orange jumpsuit climbed out from the bushes. 

Said shinobi stopped in his tracks when he first saw Sasuke. Sasuke crossed his arms and raised one of his graceful, shaped eyebrows, giving Naruto a look that obviously said, 'Well…?'.

Naruto looked away, but didn't retreat back into the forest. Instead, he strode over to Sasuke, stepping in line with the older ninja. If Naruto had looked up from the ground, he would've seen Sasuke's never-straying gaze watching over him. Naruto visibly shuddered as Sasuke stepped closer to him. Only then, did the blond look up.

"Sas…Sasuke…you're not mad, are you?" Naruto managed to say. To his relief, his raven-haired comrade shook his head. "I'm sorry if I worried you…" Naruto continued. "I just…needed to gather my thoughts…"

"It's alright Naruto…I wish you would tell me what freaked you out so much, but it's your choice," Sasuke replied. Naruto smiled meekly, loving the way Sasuke's voice encouraged pragmatism, but didn't demand it. Taking a deep breath, Naruto returned his attention to the ground.

"It was—it was just a dream," he muttered under his breath, half-hoping that Sasuke didn't hear, but otherwise wishing that this whole ordeal was over with and Sasuke would stop worrying. But of course, since this was Uchiha Sasuke he was talking to, the older ninja heard every word.

"It must've been bad…" Sasuke stated, clearly trying to get Naruto to enlighten him about the situation.

Naruto shrugged. "I guess…Meh, it wasn't really the dream itself that scared me, but the way the dream _felt_…It just felt so…real…" Naruto said, wrapping his arms around his body to suppress a shiver running down his spine. "Like…like it had happened to me before…But, I know it hasn't…or well, I don't think it did…I would've remembered, wouldn't I?"

As Naruto directed his question to Sasuke, the Uchiha visibly stiffened. A strange look settled upon his features, making Naruto doubt himself.

"Sasuke…Sasuke, it was just a dream, right? It didn't really happen, right? Because if it did, I'd remember it…right!" Naruto began to panic as he looked to Sasuke for solace, for some sort of sign or indication that things were just fine. Sasuke never provided him one. His reply did nothing to calm his alarmed companion, if not unnerve him even more.

"Naruto. Tell me about your dream," Sasuke said, turning to Naruto. Naruto hesitated, but nodded and began retelling his dream.

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"So…you were locked up inside a room…by a woman named 'Mitsuko', who mistreated you, so you attacked and killed her…Is that it?" Sasuke recounted the dream Naruto had declaimed. Naruto nodded. The two shinobi had sat down on the ground while Naruto talked.

"How old do you think you were?"

"I…I was seven…but why doest that matter?" Naruto asked, tilting his head to the side in a confused manner. To Naruto's surprise, he saw Sasuke's face tense up, his body becoming rigid, and that strange look graced his features once again, making Naruto shudder. Suddenly, the Uchiha's face became extremely pale – more so than usual – and his eyes became glazed over.

"Sa…Sasuke? Sasuke! Why are you looking at me like that!" Naruto grabbed Sasuke's arm as if it was the only thing keeping him there. Why was he acting like this?

"Naruto…" he whispered, grabbing the younger boy's wrist. "I'm so sorry…"

* * *

"_**Sasuke! Look how high I am! I'm even higher than the birds!"** Naruto shouted above Sasuke's head elatedly. Sasuke craned his neck back to see his friend almost three stories above from where the first branch was and grinned. By the time Naruto had finally climbed so high, the sun was already starting to set, lighting the sky on fire and illuminating both his and Sasuke's tiny bodies. _

"_**You're not higher than the birds, baka! Look—there's one above you're head right now!"** Sasuke laughed as he pointed to the very top of the tree. Indeed, on the highest branch was a sea gull cleaning its feathers with its beak. Naruto looked up and glared at the bird—but his jaw dropped when he saw the sea gull glare back. _

"_**Stupid bird!"** Naruto yelled up at it. The bird cawed backing a mocking tone of…cawing…O.o…_

"_**Grr…"** Naruto growled**. "I'll show you! I'll get much higher than you, you'll see!"**_

"_**Naruto…don't! You're already high enough as it is! Come down, okay…?"** Sasuke begged. _

"_**No way!"** Naruto shouted, his usual arrogant, frivolous grin stretched across his young, boyish face. **"I'm going to show that stupid sea gull who it is that's boss!"**_

"_**Oh, and you're the boss around here, Naruto?"** Sasuke laughed, raising an eyebrow. But Naruto wasn't listening. Instead, he continued to climb further up the tree, ignoring Sasuke's previous pleas. _

"_**Naruto! Naruto! NARU—Oi!" **_

"_**Ah…!"** Naruto cried out in surprise. As soon as Naruto had moved to grab a branch above his head, the sea gull laughed malevolently and jumped off of its perch, spread his feathered wings, and swooped downwards. Naruto's bright blue eyes—along with Sasuke's deep, almost black ones—widened in horror as the evil sea gull dived down to Naruto, laughing evilly as he plunged. Not being able to move anywhere to evade the psychotic bird, he was hit in the head by the gull, making him lose his firm grip on the tree's trunk. The bird laughed again as it turned around in midair, circling above Naruto's blond head, clawing at the poor child's face as he flew. Naruto screamed in terror as he tried with all his might to swat the bird away. No avail came of his desperate frantic attempts. _

"_**N…N…N…"** Sasuke stuttered, his breath hitching over and over again. His midnight eyes still wide, his pupils becoming smaller and smaller with each passing second. Timed seemed to slow and everything appeared to be in slow motion as Sasuke watched Naruto's foot slip from the branch he was standing on. His small body fell backwards completely off of the branch, making the small child hit his head against one of the protruding branches. _

**(If you don't like wonderful gory angst, skip the next bold, underlined part)**

"_**Naruto!"** Sasuke screamed, feeling the sting of tears in the corner of his eyes as he witnessed his friend falling. The sea gull continued to laugh as Naruto plummeted almost 3 stories, his blond—now bloodied—head smacking into offending branches as he fell. Blood spurted from his broken nose as well as from his mouth and the cuts all over his head. Sasuke felt the cold tears fall from his eyes, blurring his vision of the horrific scene. He didn't know what to do—there was nothing he **could** do—his body wouldn't allow him to move. He was paralyzed there, cold tears falling down his face. His mind had become suddenly numb, blocking out all thought. He didn't know what to do – everything else seemed insignificant. All that mattered was Naruto, but he couldn't do anything to help him, just watch in horror since he wasn't allowed to move. Slowly, he felt himself fall on his backside. _

_Time must've sped up twice as fast, because the next thing Sasuke knew, Naruto had hit the ground, a terrible, ear-splitting cracking sound echoed through Sasuke's ears. Tears fell endlessly from his eyes as he sat and stared at the broken body. Slowly, life came back to him and he could feel the icy numbness crawling away, awakening, both his body and his mind. Just as slowly, Sasuke began to meekly crawly towards his battered friend, fearing for the worst, yet hoping for the best. As he finally neared the blond boy, he saw that his hopes were denied and his fears were confirmed. Naruto was completely broken. His face was bloodied, teeth were missing, a small puddle of the red liquid forming under his mangled body. _

_Sasuke reached out a delicate hand and caressed Naruto's cheek, accidentally smearing the blood from his nose, temple, and mouth. Sasuke screamed at the feeling of Naruto's blood on his hand and collapsed on top of the younger boy, not realizing that his extra body weight on top of Naruto wouldn't help the situation at all. _

**(Okay, the gory angst is over, sorry about that!)**

"_**N-N-Na-Na-Naru-Naruto…"** he repeated over and over again, feeling his breath hitching - signs of hyperventilation. The small Uchiha frantically tore at the younger boy's bloody cloths, crying and hyperventilating at the same time. Sudden visions of his cherished and only friend were flashing through his mind, making him cry harder. _

"_**Sasuke! Wait for me!"**_

"_**Sasuke, I'm bored…Let's play, okay?"**_

"_**Sasuke…Let's have some ice cream! I like the chocolate kind!"**_

"_**I bet I can run faster than you Sasuke!"**_

"_**Sasuke, help me up!"**_

"_**Hee…Sasuke loves me…"**_

"_**Sasuke…"**_

"_**Sasuke!"**_

**_

* * *

_**

"Sasuke!"

Sasuke slowly opened his eyes, surprised by how the scenery from his vision and where he was now hadn't changed at all. In his vision and in the present, the sky was on fire – sunset. Trees were everywhere, too. But one difference was that Sasuke was on the ground during the present, instead of him leaning over Naruto like in his vision. (Wow…I'm so sorry that paragraph didn't make sense at all. My brain melted and I really need sleep… -shrug- Ah well, I must type, or I will get lazy and forget about this story! Wait…I'm rambling now…I doubt that's good…Damn, I've been distracted!)

"Sas…Sasuke…!" Naruto whined again. Sasuke slowly moved his eyes to the source of the voice, and was surprised to see Naruto's face about two inches from his own. His eyes were wide with worry, his lips were trembling, and his face had paled. His shiny blue eyes were watery – it looked like he might've been holding back tears. He was trembling. When he saw that his comrade had awoken, he sat back on his rear end, his legs bent at the knees with his calves resting next to his thighs. (Ya know, how like in those animes, those people sit on the ground like that when they're depressed or whatever?) Sasuke gingerly sat up and propped himself on his elbows, eyeing Naruto curiously.

"Naruto…?" he muttered as an attempt to calm the shaking boy down. Said boy blinked, as if suddenly brought back to reality. His eyebrows furrowed slightly, creating something between a scowl and a pout.

"Sasuke…you fell down…and you didn't wake up…" he whimpered, his hands falling limply between his legs. (Nothing dirty! Perv… )

"…I'm sorry…" Sasuke replied wearily, clutching his head. Naruto visibly trembled again, making Sasuke frown.

"You…you wouldn't wake up…" Naruto said, hanging his head dejectedly. Sasuke eyed Naruto, wondering why he was so downcast lately. Did that dream he had really have that much of an effect on him?

**(Slight hints of yaoi – you don't like, you don't read! Skip to next bold part.)**

Sasuke gradually rose to his knees, still clutching his throbbing head. Damn headache…

"Naruto…" he whispered, turning his body so he faced Naruto's. The younger shinobi didn't look up and continued to shake. Sasuke hesitantly wrapped his arms around the smaller figure, trying to put him at ease in any way possible. Naruto stiffened slightly, but – much to Sasuke's pleasure - soon became relaxed and sank into Sasuke's arms. Even though he began to relax, however, the uncontrollable shaking continued, so Sasuke held him closer. Naruto rested his chin on Sasuke's shoulder, making Sasuke shiver as well. He could feel his warm breath fanning his ear, making his mind go numb. His eyes began to dim and flutter shut, but they shot back open.

Naruto's breathing was different than usual. Sasuke hadn't notice it at first – his mind and attention were focused on _other_ things – but Naruto's breathing was very shallow and uneven, causing his chest to rise and fall with quick, short jerks. Worried, Sasuke raised a hand to Naruto's forehead and the other to his own, trying to discern whether Naruto's temperature was any different from his. It was. Sasuke's frown deepened and became more palpable as he felt Naruto's face growing hotter under his hand. Allowing his arms to snake themselves around Naruto once more, he helped bring the boy to his feet. Naruto, too dazed to know what was going on around him, clumsily tried to regain his steadiness…but failed – resulting in the blond shinobi clinging to Sasuke for balance.

Taking one of Naruto's limp arms, Sasuke gently wrapped it around his shoulder, shifting all of Naruto's weight so that he carried it all. Naruto began to squirm, not liking being treated like a cripple.

"Sasuke! Let me…let me go, teme!" he yelled, making a weak attempt to wriggle out of Sasuke's tender hold on him. Sasuke's only response was a shrug. Naruto sighed, but was abruptly overcome by a sudden bout dizziness because of it, so he, for once and for one time only, allowed himself to be handed over to Sasuke.

Sasuke, sensing that he had one yet another argument, grabbed Naruto's wrist so his arm wouldn't fall off of his shoulder and wrapped his other arm securely around Naruto's waist for _extra_ support. Naruto opened his mouth to protest, but Sasuke quickly hushed him, saying that if Sasuke weren't there to hold him up, Naruto would've fallen on his ass and wouldn't have been able to get up. Naruto scowled and called Sasuke a 'teme', but inwardly, he was grateful - glad that someone cared enough to be there to carry him when he was too weak too do so himself. Naruto started to feel even fainter, so he uncertainly leaned in a little more on Sasuke for additional support, thinking that he'd be pushed away. When Sasuke stopped walking, Naruto quickly leaned back away from the Uchiha, but was shocked when Sasuke use the arm around his waist to pull him closer again. Naruto paused too, before snuggling closer to Sasuke, a small shy grin dancing across his lips, greatly enjoying the warmth that was offered to him for once.

* * *

**(Okay, SasuNaru is over. Basically, Sasuke finds out that Naruto is sick.)**

"Sasuke…where are we going…?" Naruto mumbled, still in a slight daze.

"I'm taking you into the village," Sasuke replied. Naruto choked and tripped over both, his and Sasuke's feet. If Sasuke hadn't been hefting all of Naruto's weight, Naruto would've fallen on his face.

"Wh-what!" Naruto gasped out.

"Naruto, you're starting to run a fever, and I have no idea what to do when it comes to that medical crap. We need Sakura, she'll know what to do," Sasuke told the blond shinobi.

"…But…Sasuke, I..."

"Stop worrying, dobe, you'll be with me," Sasuke promised.

Naruto reluctantly gave in (not that he had a choice, really) and the two slowly made their way towards the Village hidden in the Mist, one more keen to get there than the other.

* * *

**A/N:** Heh, I don't really know what I think about this chapter. I just hope it's good enough to get more reviews. The person I dedicated the last chapter too didn't even review. Maybe she didn't like it. Ah well... I know for a fact that this story won't actually be yaoi, just small hints of it. The sequel will though, for sure! Woot! SasuNaru forever! Oh, wait... was I supposed to let you know about the sequel? ...Heh, SURPRISE! XD! I don't really care, though, whether you read the sequel or not. I just wrote this so I wouldn't forget it... Meh! Oh my god! I'm so sorry readers/reviewers! Why, oh, _WHY_ have I been complaining about reviews when I didn't think I'd get any in the first place! Can you people forgive me? -hug- 

Okay, I promise, no more drama...

At least not from _my_ life...Naruto on the other hand...

Muwahahaha...

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OMG! I'm so sorry for, like, almost killing Naruto! Dammit, Touda, stop trying to kill Naruto! Meh, I really have to stop typing up my chappys at night, cuz I don't remember what I write! God, I remember updating at 2 in the morning again, but I didnt remember what I wrote...meh, I disgress...


	17. Sunrise

**A/N:** Gomen nasai, everybody, about what happened in the last chapter. But I'm so tired of the same old usual thing happening at times like those. In stories where someone is climbing up something really tall, they usually fall; otherwise, climbing a tree wouldn't be significant at all! **(Holy crap, that whole sentence rhymed!)** Someone below who's staring up their ass – usually their partner/lover/pairing/seme or whatever else – catches them at the last second, then everything is okay and they realize their undying love for the other! But that's not how things usually work in real life! In real life, someone falling a few stories wouldn't usually be caught at the last second, resulting in a happy ending! They would fall, and hit the ground at the end. I would know.

But, meh, I digress… I wanted so badly to have Sasuke catch Naruto, but Touda-san thought differently and wanted to try to kill Naruto off again – and since Touda-san controls my mind and way of thinking at night and when I'm sugar-high, my sanity didn't have a say in the matter… Wow, that paragraph makes my head spin… . But still, things will work out for the better resulting in more fluffy SasuNaru. Yay!

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Wait, wait, wait! I just now realized that I forgot something! This chappy is dedicated to **New Moon Werewolf**! You rock! Yay! I just figured out that you're **Aurora Jordan Z. on Elfwood** who helped me with my 'sharingan' spelling. Another yay! And starting now, I'm going to reward the people I dedicate my chapters to! And since **New Moon Werewolf **rocks so much, you can suggest one thing you want to happen in the course of this story, and come hell or high-water, I'll do my best to fit it in! Congrats! That goes for anyone else who I decide to dedicate a chapter to. Don't worry, people who already have had a chapter dedicated to! You can suggest something as well! That only means: **blue-genjitsu; kellyQ; Tsukasaru; and FireieGurl**! Only you five are allowed to suggest something. If you don't suggest anything, ah well. Your loss. Try not to suggest anything that will turn this into a crack-fic. I'm saving that for the sequel. And the suggestions _HAVE_ to be in your _REVIEW_! My e-mail has gone insane and isn't working at the moment. So sorry!

* * *

Chapter 17

Sunrise

By the time the two boys had made it to the gate of the Village hidden in the Mist, Naruto was able to repair his broken 'mask' and was now smiling meekly through his previous sorrow. He had already let one person see through his façade, he wouldn't let anyone else see through his 'mask'. The blond shinobi glanced over at said boy. Sasuke, who was carrying all of Naruto's weight as well his own, was starting to stagger with the extra burden.

"Sasuke! You don't have to carry me! Let me walk on my own," Naruto protested, trying to stand up straight.

"You'll fall," Sasuke stated simply.

Naruto opened his mouth to object, when Sasuke stopped suddenly, making Naruto stop as well. Looking over at the Uchiha, who was staring ahead, Naruto blinked and followed the other boy's gaze. His blue eyes narrowed when he saw that they had arrived at the gates where the two guards from before were standing. But the guards weren't staring back – they didn't seem to notice the two shinobi at all.

Sasuke transferred his weight onto another foot and took a step forward. The guards didn't move, so Sasuke stepped closer. As he gradually approached the gates, the guards didn't stop them or ask for their names as they did when the team first arrived. Sasuke decided to ignore them and proceed through the gates.

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"Sasuke! Where are we going!" Naruto whined again.

"For the last time, Naruto, we're going to the Inn. If we can get you there, either Sakura or Kakashi could probably break your fever," Sasuke answered for the seventh time.

"Well why is it taking so long to get there?" Naruto asked impatiently.

Silence. Naruto gave an exasperated sigh when an answer wasn't offered. Deciding to try a different approach, Naruto turned to Sasuke again. "Sasuke, you do know where the Inn is, right?" When Sasuke didn't answer, Naruto yelled in frustration. "Sasuke, you don't know where we're going!"

Sasuke looked away and mumbled, "Stop bugging me…"

But Naruto continued. "Do something! Ask somebody where it is, or something! I'm tired of wandering around, and my feet hurt!" he complained, clinging even closer to Sasuke.

Sasuke snorted. "You haven't been using your feet, dobe."

"Sasuke!"

"Fine. I'll ask someone where the Inn is," Sasuke gave in, stopping next to a streetlight. A small, rundown shop was settled between two buildings. Taking the younger boy's arm off of his shoulder, Sasuke gently stood Naruto up straight, relieving his body of the extra weight. Naruto grabbed the streetlight for support and leaned against it.

"Wait here," Sasuke ordered. Naruto nodded as Sasuke turned around and opened the door to the small shop. Sighing, he stepped inside.

As Sasuke stepped inside the store, a small bell chimed, indicating his entrance. Sasuke strode over to a small counter, glancing around as he walked. The store was filled with scrolls placed on rows of brackets. Scattered around the store on individual shelves were boxes of candles, chopsticks, and bags of sunflower seeds (Heh, sunflower seeds…I have a new obsession/fetish-thing)

As Sasuke approached the counter, a man with greasy black hair with a book in his hand looked up.

"Can I help you?" he asked with a bored tone of voice.

"I need to know where this town's Inn is," Sasuke said, placing his fists on the counter. The man peered up at him through locks of his oily hair.

"Which one? There's two – the Inner Inn and the Sugoi Inn." The man put his book down and leaned over the counter to get a closer look at the Uchiha.

_Shit…_ Sasuke thought, crossing his arms in an irritated manner.

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Naruto leaned against the pole and placed his sweaty head against the cold metal surface. Sighing, he slowly turned his head towards the store, trying to see inside it. He couldn't. Letting his head fall back to the cool metal, he sighed again and raised his hand to his head and pressed his cold palm to his forehead. His body was so hot, but he couldn't stop shivering. Glancing back at the badly maintained shop, Naruto growled.

"Sasuke-teme…why are you taking so long?" Naruto asked to no one in particular.

Closing his eyes, he began to doze off, when suddenly—

"Hey!"

—a young, high-pitched voice forced him out of his reverie. Standing up straight, Naruto turned towards the source of the voice. As he was turning his head, though, a sharp pain smacked him directly above his right eye. A cry of pain escaped his lips as he stumbled backwards. It felt like someone had stabbed him with a searing hot dagger – which didn't help the headache that was already beginning to slowly penetrate his thoughts. He could feel warm liquid dripping into his eye.

"Ow…" Naruto murmured, trying to blink the substance away from his eye, before falling back onto his rump.

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"God, it's about time…" Sasuke muttered to himself as he exited the store. He and the shop owner had managed to detect which Inn Sasuke's team was staying at by process of elimination. As Sasuke opened the door, the bell chimed again.

"Naruto…" he said, looking up. He froze at the sight before him. Naruto was on his knees, a small cut was bleeding above the younger boy's right eyebrow. Other small minor cuts and bruises were scattered across his body. Naruto was holding his hands up, trying to shield his face and ward off whatever was hurting him.

"Naruto!" Sasuke began to run to the other boy when he felt something hit him as well – hard. Quickly becoming pissed off, Sasuke glanced over to where whatever had hit him had come from. He saw something else flying towards him and grabbed it at the last second like the ninja he is. Peering into his hand, Sasuke's face hardened when he saw a rock. Rocks were being thrown at them! Clenching his hand with the stone in it, he looked up, searching for their assailant, and was surprised to see three small children. Small mounds of rocks were piled up next to their feet, close enough for the kids to reach down and grab the rocks. One of the children had a slingshot in his tiny hands, another rock loaded into it, and was pointing it at Sasuke's face. The child released the filament of the slingshot and sent the rock flying towards Sasuke's nose. Using his arm to swat the stone away, Sasuke glared daggers at the three children as they continued to pummel Naruto with rocks.

"Little bastards…" Sasuke muttered as he jumped over to Naruto's side. Kneeling in front of him, Sasuke gently laid Naruto down, shielding him from the rocks.

"Get out of our village!" Sasuke heard one of them shout.

Sasuke growled in response, flinching slightly as a rock hit his shoulder. Turning slightly, he took out a kunai and began trying to block himself and Naruto with the blade. His attempts proved semi-successful, but he was still hit periodically by rogue stones that didn't succumb to Sasuke's 'mad' kunai skills. Glancing down at his comrade, Sasuke made sure that Naruto was okay, before drawing another kunai. If those kids stop, then he'd force them to stop – one way or another. Just as Sasuke began to rise to his feet, the umbrage of rocks stopped. Sasuke returned his attention to the three brats and saw a woman kneeling on the ground, her arms wrapped tightly around all three of the children.

"I'm so terribly sorry!" she apologized sincerely. "My children have a kind of their own, and they wandered away while I wasn't looking, I'm so sorry! I'm sorry! Just don't hurt them!" Laments and apologies were being repeated over and over again as the woman eyed the scrapes and bruises placed upon the two shinobi.

"No mamma! They're bad people!" one of the kids yelled.

"Yeah! No one wants you here!" another one shouted, trying to wriggle out of his mother's firm embrace. The woman held him closer, trying to restrain him and stop his feeble attempts to break free.

"Get out of our village!" the third child yelled for the second time. He had managed to reach over his mother's arm to one of the rock piles and grabbed a stone. Glaring at Naruto, he threw it with more force than a small child such as him should have, but since I decided to give him crappy aim, he missed completely – but since he's really…um…lucky and skilled, the stone ricocheted off the ground and bounced over to Naruto, smacking him in the forehead. Naruto whined, covering his head with his arms, making Sasuke growl angrily at the child who threw the rock at him. The mother gasped and pulled her child even closer seeing Sasuke's hostility.

"Niida, no! Don't do such things! I-I apologize on my children's behalf, I'm so sorry!" the woman cried.

"You should take better control of your children. They could get…hurt…" Sasuke said menacingly, withdrawing his kunai and steadily, but gently pulling Naruto to his feet. "They had better stay away from us."

The woman nodded and hurriedly rose to her feet, keeping a tight hold on the three of her children. Turning around, she practically ran from Sasuke and Naruto, making great haste to distance herself from the intimidating Uchiha. Shrugging Naruto's arm back over his shoulder, he tried to lift the boy up, but Naruto began to flail around, making things difficult for Sasuke.

**(Okay, hints of SasuNaru. If you don't want to read, skip to the next bold part)**

Glancing down at the blond boy, Sasuke frowned. Naruto was looking down at the ground, avoiding Sasuke's eyes. His face was set into a pained grimace and his lips were quivering.

"Naruto…?" Sasuke asked serenely, trying to gain the younger shinobi's attention.

"Hmm? …Yeah?" Naruto answered lamely, looking up at Sasuke but still avoiding his gaze. Somehow, he had managed to keep his 'mask' in place and was able to smile. It was a very weak and feeble smile that still trembled slightly, but it was still a smile. Sasuke didn't but it.

"They…hurt you, didn't they, Naruto?" Sasuke asked. Naruto stiffened slightly under Sasuke's hold, but relaxed and continued to smile that fake smile. Hanging his head and keeping his gaze away from Sasuke, Naruto offered a meek, would-be-carefree laugh.

"Sasuke, I can handle a few cuts and bruises – I'm a ninja, not a kid," he mumbled, staring at the ground again. Sasuke let out an irritated sigh. He was tired of Naruto always trying to cover up and hide his sorrow from other people. Raising a hand, Sasuke grabbed Naruto's chin and forced him to meet his eyes.

"Sa-Sasuke! Let go of me!" Naruto commanded, his forged smile gone. Naruto grabbed at Sasuke's wrist when Sasuke didn't set Naruto's chin free.

"Naruto, you know I didn't mean 'cuts and bruises'," Sasuke said, his face serious as always. Naruto pulled at Sasuke's wrist again, but his attempts to free his chin were in vain and were ignored. "What did you do to piss the villagers off, anyway?" he continued.

"Sasuke!" Naruto snarled, giving one last yank at the older ninja's wrist. When he still couldn't overpower Sasuke, Naruto let his arms fall back to his side and his body became limp, using Sasuke's grip on his chin for support. Naruto stumbled forwards a bit, but Sasuke steadied him with his other hand. "…Sasuke… I-I don't know what I did to make them so mad… I didn't _do_ anything to them. This is the only time I've ever been here besides the mission Kakashi-sensei had us go on when we were still Genin. I don't _know_ why they hate me so much…"

Sasuke seemed satisfied with Naruto's answer, but sighed and released Naruto's chin when he saw the other's lip begin to tremble again.

"Let's get you cleaned up," Sasuke said, kneeling down in front of Naruto. Naruto swayed a bit without Sasuke's support, but straightened up and stared at Sasuke blankly. "Get on…" Sasuke ordered.

After taking a few moments to debate things, Naruto nodded and hesitantly held onto Sasuke, who lifted him up on his back (PIGGY-BACK RIDE! WHOOT!). After shifting around a little, Sasuke began walking towards the direction the shop owner had directed him to. Naruto tensed up at first – he didn't like the idea of someone carrying him, Sasuke of all people – but after a few moments, settled into the motion of Sasuke's footstep. Naruto groaned as he felt a major headache threatening to overcome all of his senses. Closing his eyes, he unconsciously nuzzled into the nape of Sasuke's neck, forgetting where he was for a moment. Sasuke stopped abruptly and turned his head slightly to be met with Naruto's forehead.

"Naruto?"

"Ah…sorry, Sasuke…" Naruto mumbled, trying to sit back up. There was a moment of silence, but Sasuke began walking again.

"…It's alright…" Sasuke answered quietly. A flimsy smile spread across Naruto's lips as he fell back into Sasuke's shoulder.

808080808080808

Naruto groaned. His head was throbbing uncontrollably, and his head hurt terribly. He peered his eyes open and was surprised to see Sasuke's ear. It wasn't an ugly ear, no, but Naruto was still surprised to see it. Closing his eyes again, he could feel the throbbing getting worse. Breathing in, Naruto tried to remember what had happened, but was distracted by the smell he breathed in. It was a pleasant smell, making his eyes flicker open again.

"Sas…suke…" he mumbled. Sasuke turned his head slightly to see the blond.

"You're awake? You passed out on me."

"Ah…?" Naruto was surprised by this. He didn't remember falling asleep, but he remembered waking up. Shrugging, he looked at Sasuke. "Sorry…you…uh," Naruto hesitated, but decided to say it. Sasuke just had to know. Closing his eyes, he whispered, "…You smell nice."

Sasuke's steps faltered for a moment, but he regained his posture and continued his pace.

"What…? Anou…I haven't had a bath since we got here, how could you think I smell _nice_?"

"But…you do…" Naruto protested. "It's…your hair…I think…"

**(Okay, I think the SasuNaru is over…for now…)**

Sasuke shrugged and Naruto closed his eyes again, hoping the lull of Sasuke's walking would carry him off to sleep again. Suddenly, Naruto noticed something warm gathering under his face, into Sasuke's shirt.

_Shit, did I drool on him!_ Naruto thought, leaning back a little to see what he had done. When he saw the puddle on Sasuke's shoulder, his eyes widened.

"Uh oh…" he mumbled involuntarily, hoping the Uchiha didn't hear him. Since he was right by Sasuke's ear, however, he did hear him and stopped.

Turning his head to the side, Sasuke asked, "What is it?"

"Uh…" Naruto raised a hand to his head and was surprised to see that he was covered in it, too. Leaning back into Sasuke's neck, he looked at the older ninja. "Hello…I'm bleeding on you, ya know…" Naruto said innocently. He heard Sasuke growl as he turned back around and resumed walking.

"Don't remind me…"

"I'm sorry…" Naruto apologized. Sasuke didn't answer and the rest of the walk was spent in silence. Not an awkward silence, mind you, but not a comforting silence, either…just silence… Soon Sasuke stopped, though, making Naruto open his eyes and look up.

"We're here," Sasuke announced.

That they were.

Sasuke strode over to the window and peered inside. He cursed under his breath when he saw the receptionist, Hatomi, sitting at the front desk. She was the girl from before who kicked Naruto out of her Inn. Sasuke clenched his fist at the memory and slammed it against the wall. The wall shook and Sasuke ducked under the window when the saw the receptionist glance his way.

"Shit…" Sasuke muttered.

"That was smart. What did that wall ever do to you?" Naruto laughed slightly.

Sasuke ignored him and peeked over the window sill. Hatomi seemed to be calling to someone in another room. Suddenly, Hatomi turned around and grabbed something long off the wall – it looked like a rope – and walked over to the big golden retriever. The girl took the rope and latched it onto the dog's collar, pulling him to his feet. The rope was a leash. With the dog at her feet, Hatomi walked to the door, opening it and stepped outside. Sasuke saw her look around in the light before walking off into the darkness, using a flashlight to illuminate the ground she was walking on. As she walked away, Sasuke hoisted Naruto back up onto his back in an easier-to-carry position and ran to the door. This was their chance to get into the Inn without yet again facing the wrath of the receptionist.

When Sasuke managed to get the door open with Naruto's help, he stumbled into the lounge but was blinded by the light. When Sasuke regained his posture, he looked up to find the old woman from before standing in a doorway across from where Sasuke and Naruto were – Sasuke remembered her as Hatomi's grandmother. Sasuke froze, expecting her to show the same vicious display her granddaughter did. He was shocked when the old woman merely smiled graciously at them.

"Hello…" said greeted warmly.

"Anou…"

"She…doesn't remember us, Sasuke," Naruto mumbled into Sasuke's ear.

"Can I help you two boys?" she asked them.

Sasuke shook his head. "No, we already have a room here."

"Okay!" she smiled again. Sasuke nodded at her and hobbled to the stairs, not looking back at the woman. Naruto, however, turned to her and waved.

"Domo!" he called to her.

The old woman waved back, shaking her head in an amused manner. "Such nice boys…" she said to no one in particular.

8080808080808

"Kakashi-sensei…where could he be?" Sakura asked, wringing her hands worriedly.

"Hmm…?" he asked, not looking up from his hentai book, 'Come Come Paradise'.

"Sasuke-kun! It's already almost 8:00; he left almost 9 hours ago! Do you really think he went to go see Naruto? What if something happened to him?" Sakura started to pace around the room, still wringing her hands. "I think we should go looking for him…Kakashi-sensei, what should we do? Should we ask—"

But Sakura's rambling by the door sliding opening. Spinning around on her heel, she grinned when she saw the Uchiha she was waiting for.

"Sasuke-kun!" she yelled, prancing up to him. She was just about to wrap her arms around him when she saw what was draped over his shoulders and clinging to his back – Naruto.

"Na-Naruto!"

"Hallo, Sakura-chan!" Naruto grinned.

"What happened?" Kakashi asked calmly. Sakura stepped aside to let Sasuke and Naruto in. Sasuke staggered over to a bed pushed up against a wall and gently laid Naruto down on it. Using the bed post, Naruto tried to sit up, but was softly pushed back down by Sasuke.

Turning to his pink-haired companion, Sasuke said, "Sakura, I need you to get some cotton balls for Naruto's cuts."

Sakura nodded and ran to the bathroom, searching for the cotton balls.

"Sasuke?" Kakashi inquired.

"Naruto has a fever, and while I was trying to carry him here, we were attacked by psycho kids. That's why he has those scratches."

"Here they are!" Sakura yelled, treading to the bed Naruto was lying on.

"Here…" she said, sitting Naruto up and laying him back on the bedpost. Sitting on the bed, Sakura opened the bag of cotton and pulled one out. Holding a cotton swab carefully between long two fingers, Sakura dipped the cotton into a small bottle that had the word 'alcohol' written on it. After slightly drenching the cotton ball with alcohol, Sakura pressed it to a scrape on Naruto's hand. Naruto unwillingly hissed in pain. After doing this a few more times, Sakura moved on to another cut on Naruto's shoulder. Sasuke grabbed a chair in the corner and dragged it to the side of the bead, the wooden legs of the chair grinding on the floor as Sasuke pulled it to the bed.

Minutes later, Sakura was almost done, but both Sasuke and Kakashi became bored hearing Naruto's hissing of pain and whining. Kakashi went back to reading his hentai book, but Sasuke had nothing to do. Remembering that Naruto had a fever to break, Sasuke cleared his throat, trying to catch Sakura's attention.

"Sakura."

"Hmm?" she asked, turning to Sasuke. Her hand stopped cleaning Naruto's wounds as she turned to talk to the Uchiha. "What is it, Sasuke-kun?"

"Do you think you can take care of Naruto's fever as well?"

"Ah!" Sakura dropped the cotton ball. "He has a fever, too!"

"It's nothing to worry about, Sakura-chan, so stop worrying so much…" Naruto mumbled. Sasuke and Sakura ignored him.

"Why can't you stay out of trouble for once, Naruto!" Sighing, Sakura rose to her feet. "I'll go boil some water and get a washcloth ready…" Sakura said, walking to the kitchen area. Naruto growled and tried to shoot a half-hearted scowl towards Sasuke, but made it look more like a pout. Sighing, Naruto picked up the cotton ball Sakura left behind and began to prod one of his cuts.

**(More SasuNaru yet again, so skip to the next bold part if you don't like it)**

Sasuke rolled his eyes and took Sakura's place on the bed. Sitting across from the blond boy, Sasuke sat cross legged and reached over to Naruto. Naruto stiffened when he felt Sasuke's fingers brush his own. Looking down, Naruto saw Sasuke grab the cotton ball out of his fingers and held them in his own.

"Sasuke?" Naruto tilted his head in a confused manner.

Sasuke took the cotton ball and re-dipped it in the alcohol. Using his free hand, Sasuke placed it on Naruto's left cheek, cupping his cheek and steadying Naruto's head. A small blush threatened to creep across Naruto's cheeks, but Naruto was able to contain it by gulping and taking a deep breath.

"Anou…" Naruto murmured.

Sasuke ignored him and pressed the re-soaked cotton swab to the cut above Naruto's right eye – the cut that had bled onto Sasuke's shirt. Naruto whimpered, but was silenced when he felt Sasuke's thumb rubbing against his cheek. Sasuke pressed the cotton ball to Naruto's cut again, but this time, Naruto managed to restrain whimpering. Instead, all he did was flinch. Yay, go will power!

"You okay?" Sasuke asked.

Naruto slowly nodded. He couldn't help himself for some reason, and snuggled his cheek into Sasuke's palm. Sasuke froze, making Naruto look up at him.

"Uh…" Sasuke mumbled.

Realizing what he just did, Naruto fell backwards onto the bedpost and away from Sasuke, pushing him away as he did so. How could he have done that? He had had enough control to keep himself from whimpering out loud, so why couldn't he stop himself from nuzzling Sasuke's hand? And now Sasuke was staring at him! He was such an idiot! Sasuke's hand was still lingering by Naruto's forehead, so Naruto growled at snatched the cotton ball away.

"I can do it myself!" Naruto snarled, pressing the alcohol drenched cotton ball to his scratch. The sting that came with the alcohol was ignored as Naruto tried to hide his blush by looking away, keeping his gaze anywhere but Sasuke.

"Naruto?" Sasuke asked, grabbing Naruto's chin as he had done before.

"Teme!" Naruto yelled out, swatting Sasuke's hand away.

"What…did I do to make you so mad?" Sasuke asked. Sighing, Sasuke shrugged. "Whatever…"

"Stop getting Naruto so wound up, Sasuke," Kakashi scolded.

"Ah!" Naruto's blush deepened. "I-I'm not wound up! He didn't wound me up, Kakashi-sensei! Uh…ah…anou…AUGH!"

**(The SasuNaru is over now…)**

"Naruto!" Sakura called, emerging from the kitchen. A pan full of water and a cloth were in her hands. "It's ready!"

Sasuke got up off the bed, confused, to give Sakura room. Sakura gently laid Naruto down and drenched the cloth into the pan. Once the washcloth was fully drenched, Sakura placed it on Naruto's forehead, making Naruto shiver as the excess water dripped down the side of his face. Sakura backed away once she made sure Naruto was covered with the sheets.

"There!" she exclaimed. "He should be just fine!"

"Good…" Sasuke smiled slightly.

Naruto looked away, still trying to cover up the blush that was finally starting to gradually disappear. Turning to face the wall, Naruto felt his eyes becoming slightly droopy and crap like that. Before he realized what was going on, he had peacefully fallen asleep.

* * *

**A/N:** Woah, pretty long chappy! Over 11 pages! Yay, go me! So sorry for it's unnecessarily long length. I was going to cut it off after Sasuke and Naruto-kun were pummeled with rocks by those damned kids, but then it would've left a cliffy and the next chapter would've only been…like, only four pages long. So yeah… The ending sucks my ass, sorry about that… And sorry for once again trying to kill Naruto-kun off. It's, like, one in the morning and I've been sleep deprived for quite a while now… Touda-san is in control… Guu… Muwahahahaha… Things will get VERY interesting during the next few chappys. Especially SasuNaru-wise. –wink-

And I brought back the sea gull in chapter 16! But no one noticed, amazingly! And I'm surprised that no one caught the whole 'sea gull clawing at Naruto's face' thing. Sea gulls have flipper-things, not claws. Meh...but seeing as how that stupid gull tried to kill Naruto more than once, Idecided to make it a kamome youkai. Yes...that damned bird is no longer from the human world, but the demon world instead!


	18. Tingles

**A/N:** Hallo, mi peeps. Nuya, I'm so sorry for the update delay! I returned yesterday from my 2 week business trip to Florida. Of course, not all of it was business…Heck, hardly any of it was business – but you don't need to know that, now do you? So yeah…Meh, the flight back was, what…oh, over 5 hours? Yes, I do think that was it. 5 hours. On a redeye. So that means 5 hours, flying at night with nothing to do, with some strange man I've never seen before trying to sleep on my shoulder. It was very uncomfortable. So I pushed him off and he landed in my lap. Which was even worse, to tell you the truth. So I pushed him off of me again and he would've landed on the floor if not for the seat in front of us. He didn't have his seatbelt on (bad man!) and I didn't want to touch him again so he stayed there for a while…until he woke up – 2 hours later. Nuyahaha…

So yeah, I was bored out of my mind sitting there twiddling my thumbs when I figured I'd pull out my computer (It's a Dell Notebook laptop…thingy). I've had writer's block disease throughout the whole trip, so I figured I wouldn't get anywhere. I was wrong. I started writing the beginning of this chapter, but somehow it turned into the start of a new Naruto story, 'Death Match'. Has anyone else read/seen Battle Royale by Koushun Takami? Basically, my new story is a Battle Royale with the Naruto characters. Ooh…scary…It's gonna suck to write about their deaths.

Oh yeah! About the first part of this…it's not meant to be perverted! And it doesn't lead to anything perverted! It leads to…trouble…After all, 'Naked Sasuke + Peeping Naruto + Nosebleed' has trouble written all over it! Well…actually, that does sound pretty perverted, but I swear it isn't! Meh, you'll see. Oh, and the whole 'orgasmic' part was from my friend, Nickel-chan. One of her RP characters (Role Playing characters) is a very kawaii/hot little vampire dude. She drew a picture of him licking blood off his hands, saying, "Mmm…fresh blood…almost orgasmic…" So all credit goes to her! Yay Nickel-chan! –glomp–

And I have dedicated this chapter **Xaiony**! You rock! You really do! Okay, now you can suggest one thing you'd like to see in this fanfiction! I'll do anything to get it in here!

* * *

Chapter 18

Tingles

As Sasuke started to shed his clothing, the water gradually began to fill the tub. The bathroom mirror was slowly becoming hazy from the steam of the hot water, the tiles becoming slick from the watery vapor. Sasuke reached out and grabbed the bathroom counter so he wouldn't slip and carefully hobbled over to the bath tub. Waiting for the bath to fill, he discarded the rest of his clothing and stepped in, careful not to slide and loose his footing. Once the bath was filled with steaming water, Sasuke turned the faucet off, stopping the cascade of the warm liquid. With his body fully submerged and enclosed by the herbal water, he sank back enough so his face was halfway underwater as well, only his drooping eyes peeking out from the top of the water.

Man…baths felt so good…almost orgasmic…

…Almost…

After Naruto had fallen asleep the night before, Sasuke sat quietly in the chair, watching the younger boy slumber peacefully. He didn't remember when it had happened, but Sasuke, too, had nodded off, slouching back in the wooden chair quiet uncomfortably. When he woke up, he was alone with Naruto. Upon further inspection of a note Sakura left for him, he realized that she had gone shopping for food, but there was no sign of Kakashi. Checking to see if Naruto had looked any better, he sighed in relief when he saw that color was brought back to Naruto's face and his fever had lessened noticeably. Taking one last glance at Naruto's sleeping figure, Sasuke grabbed a towel and headed for the bathroom. After remembering that he hadn't had a bath since the day they arrived, he figured that it was time for another one. After all, he was an Uchiha. And Uchihas were clean, not dirty. It was against the Uchiha code to be a dirty Uchiha.

Now back to the bath.

Sasuke leaned back, savoring the feeling of the water as it swirled soothingly against body. He spread out a little – it was a big bath, big enough for at least three people to sit comfortably (ooh, threesome). Scented bottles surrounded him on the edge of the bath, begging to be used. One of the many shampoo bottles was pink and had eyes designed on the purple label. Sasuke shuddered. It's not that he thought the eyes were ugly – they were very pretty, in fact – he just thought the eyes were creepy the way their gaze was focused on Sasuke. Sasuke tried to glare back, but was too freaked out to do so and kicked the bottle off the side of the bath, laughing as he did so. Now that the bottle was gone, he could finally relax again.

Sasuke laced his fingers together, stretching his hands in front of him, then stretched them above his head. He yawned casually. Lifting his right leg out of the water, he rested it on the side of the bath and let it hang over the side – knocking over a few bottles as he did so, but he didn't care – and absentmindedly swung it back and forth, shivering as droplets of water slowly traveled down his knee to his toes, and then dripped on the floor, leaving a watery trail in its wake. A small puddle was beginning to form beneath his dangling foot. Feeling his eyes beginning to droop again, he slowly entered a steam filled stupor.

* * *

Naruto winced as he was slowly and mercilessly dragged away from his wonderful dreams filled with turkey legs and ice cream by rays of light shining in his eyes. Not realizing that opening his eyes would make the sunshine brighter, he opened his eyes, regretting it at once when he did so. Light pierced through the remnants of sleep, causing him to groan unhappily.

"Augh…" he said intelligently as he rolled over, trying to escape the cruel, unforgiving sun.

"Wake up, you lazy bum," the sun said impatiently (note: the sun did not actually talk; suns cannot talk). "I have other people to torture."

"Go away…" Naruto replied lazily.

The sun scoffed at Naruto's response. "Pssh, as if I haven't heard that before. Now get up!"

Suddenly, the light that had still managed to shine in Naruto's eyes even though he rolled away from it seemed to brighten immensely. Naruto rolled over, facing the sun now. It was glaring at him, so he glared back, but had to turn away before the skin was burned off his eyes. The sun laughed evilly, a note of triumph in his voice.

"Ha." He said.

"You're evil…" Naruto told him, but he figured the sun already knew that. Giving in to the heartless sun's wishes, he slowly rose, resting his elbows on the mattress and rubbing the sleep from his eyes. Naruto lazily rolled over and tried to crawl off the bed, but became tangled in his sheets and somehow ended on the floor.

"Grunt…" he grunted. The sun continued to laugh at him until Naruto was able to disentangle himself from the offending blankets. As soon as the fabric gave up on trying to restrain the blond boy, Naruto pushed the blankets away and laid there, staring at the ceiling. He didn't feel like doing much of anything at the moment – as he was still shaken up by the dream. Taking his eyes away from the ceiling, Naruto raised his head to see a chair above his head (remember, he was lying on the ground looking above him) – the same chair Sasuke had fallen asleep in the night before. Sitting there sounded so much more comfortable to Naruto than lying on his back with his head in a very uncomfortable and awkward position.

Rolling over to his stomach, Naruto eyed the chair with something that couldn't be mistaken for lust and tried to move, but his body just felt so heavy. So, instead of getting up and walking over to the chair, he just settled for flailing his limbs around desperately in an attempt to bring the chair closer to him.

"Oh, Mr. Chair, won't you please walk to me?" Naruto beckoned to the chair. It stayed where it was – about three steps away from him.

"Why won't you listen to me!" Naruto cried out. The chair smirked (note: the chair did not actually smirk; chairs cannot smirk).

"You're so pathetic…" the chair mocked.

"But—! But—! I love you! I wanna make you happy!" Naruto reached out, but the chair backed away, a smirk still plastered on its face…err, wood.

"Get up off the floor and do something, you idiot," the chair laughed.

"Everybody's against me!" Naruto cried out. "You, the sun – everybody!"

The chair just shrugged before turning around, its back facing the flailing blond boy, and proceeded to ignore him.

Naruto sighed. After he was finished talking to himself, he did as the chair had told him to and stood up off the floor, using the wooden bedpost for support. Looking around the room for his teammates, Naruto spotted a discarded note with quick, scribbled writing on it. Reading it over, he quickly learned that it was a note from Sakura saying that she had gone out shopping for food. Looking around confusedly, Naruto turned his attention to the chair again.

"Hey you, Mr. Chair! Have you seen Kakashi-sensei around at all?" Naruto asked. At first the chair didn't answer, as it was trying its best to ignore the blond boy, but sighed and gave in with a grunt.

"Nope."

"Oh…" Naruto blinked. "Well, what about Sasuke?"

The chair didn't say anything again, but shrugged over to a closed door, indicating that that was where the older boy was. Naruto broke out into a grin and thanked the chair before letting go of his hold on the bedpost and straightened (no pun intended). Casually walking over to the door the chair had indicated to, grabbed the indent, and slid the door open.

* * *

Sasuke was starting to doze off, noting that the water had become noticeably cooled off. It was still warm – to say the least – but steam no longer rose from the watery depths of the bath as it had done before. Suddenly, a slight sound made Sasuke look up lazily. The sound was so soft that the average person would miss it completely. But Sasuke wasn't an average person. He was a shinobi, and not just an average shinobi, either. He was an Uchiha, and he was positive he could hear noise outside the bathroom door. The noise sounded again and he could hear someone talking, though it sounded more like rambling as Sasuke listened closer.

_Naruto must have woken up…but…_ He paused. Something else was bothering him, like an itch in the back of his mind telling him that something was wrong. It wouldn't go away. _Who is he talking to? Did Kakashi return from wherever he went? Or maybe Sakura came back…_ His thoughts trailed off as he listened harder, trying to hear what was going on in the room outside of his. He couldn't hear any other voice besides Naruto's incoherent one. Mentally shrugging it off his mind, Sasuke leaned back far enough to hang his head over the side of the bath, as his leg was still doing, and rested his neck on the hard, chilly porcelain surface of the bath, his toned chest slightly rising out of the water as well (FEAR ME, THE KING OF RUN-ON SENTENCES! ...Or queen, whatever…).

**(Slight SasuNaru – not really in my opinion, but others might think so. Skip to the next bold if you don't like it)**

Sasuke closed his eyes and let his mind wander away from where he was, closing his eyes and slowly slipping into a dream filled reverie. Sasuke began to wonder if he was having a near-death moment as the last couple of days flashed before his eyes. Thoughts of the sound moments before were completely wiped from his mind as the night before were brought back to him, when he had given Naruto the piggyback ride. Sasuke was too enveloped in daydreams too notice – or even care about – what was going on in the room next to his…

…Until he heard a small click coming from the door, slowly forcing him out of his Naruto-filled reverie. Lazily tilting his still-hung-back head to the door, Sasuke didn't realize the extremity of the situation at hand until the door slid open and Sasuke's cold, dark eyes were met with vivid cerulean ones.

"Sasuk—…oi!" Naruto called out, a slight blush spread across his face when he saw the sight in front of him. It was indeed Sasuke, just like the chair had said. It was just that this was a different Sasuke. A Sasuke Naruto had never seen before. A Sasuke in all of his glistening, glossy, wet glory.

"Uh…" Naruto mumbled intelligently. Their gaze held for a moment, both stunned and dumbfounded as neither knew what to do with the situation at hand, before Sasuke raised his head. As Naruto watched, Sasuke's chest rose out of the water as he lifted his head off the bath's edge. Absentmindedly, Naruto's eyes wandered from Sasuke's face down to his chest, then down to his leg which was hanging off the side of the bath. It was glistening, just like Sasuke's chest and face. Naruto had never seen his comrade like this before, so he was kind of surprised to see that Sasuke did have muscles after all. Sure, they were wet and glistening and very tantalizing at the moment, but that doesn't mistake the fact that they were indeed muscles. The rest of his body was concealed underwater. Damn. Naruto watched as a small droplet of water slowly traveled down Sasuke's leg, leaving a very wet and shimmering trail behind. Once the droplet joined its brethren in the puddle below Sasuke's dangling toes, Naruto's eyes wandered back up to Sasuke's chest. Naruto felt a pang of sorrow when he spotted an ugly, blackish-blue bruise on the other shinobi's chest.

_He must've been hit with rocks when he tried to defend me last night…_ Naruto thought sadly. His eyes searched the visible parts of Sasuke's body for any more hints of damage, but found nothing more than a few minor scratches. Naruto sighed as he continued to take in this weird new version of Sasuke, depressed by the fact that it was his fault for the few mars in Sasuke's Uchiha beauty. (O.o…)

Sasuke felt his face redden as Naruto studied his features. He didn't like this at all. Suddenly, he was brought back to reality as he realized what was going on and what kind of situation he was in. He was naked, in a bath, all wet and soapy and glistening-like, with his teammate staring at him in a very uncomfortable way that made Sasuke squirm. No, not an awkward situation at all if you were a stripper…which Sasuke wasn't. Who said he was? Was it you! I bet it was…I know it was! Admit it! –pounce–

**(Okay, maybe I would consider that SasuNaru. But it doesn't matter – it's over now)**

"Naruto!" Sasuke cried out, shaking the blond boy back to reality as well. "What are you doing! Get out!"

"Anou…" Naruto muttered, realizing that he had just been staring at Sasuke. He didn't move, shocked. Sasuke yelled again for him to leave, but Naruto instead just started shouting apologies, looking down at his feet.

"Nuh, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, Sasuke! Really, I am! I didn't know this was the bathroom! The chair just told me you were in here! It didn't say what this room was! I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Don't hate me!" he cried out, covering his face with his hands.

"Naruto! I don't care! Just get out! Now! I hate being indisposed!" Sasuke shouted over Naruto's yelled excuses. The blond boy stopped, looking up at Sasuke, only to blush and frantically cover his eyes again.

"Sasuke! Don't you mean you hate being 'in exposed', not 'indisposed'?"

"I don't care!" Sasuke was becoming pissed. Naruto just wouldn't leave. Grabbing a bottle from the sides of the bath, Sasuke reeled his arm back and threw the bottle towards Naruto's head. Naruto peeked through his fingers to see how angry Sasuke was, but was met with a green container smacking him hard against his forehead.

"Ow!" Naruto's head and body bent backwards with the force of the bottle. Trying to regain his balance, Naruto grabbed on to the sink counter and pulled himself back into a standing position, but his feet slipped on the slick tiles and he fell forward.

"Argh!" Naruto yelled as he hit the floor. Sasuke, showing no mercy whatsoever, grabbed another bottle and flung it at the disoriented blond flailing around on the ground. It hit him in the shoulder.

"Sasuke! Matte!" he yelled. Sasuke chose to ignore him and grabbed for another container filled with yellow conditioner.

"Get out!" he yelled, throwing it. It missed its target.

"But— But—" Naruto started, but was cut off by dodging another bottle. "Matte! Let me get up, dammit!"

Sasuke growled, but ceased his umbrage of bottles and covered himself, allowing Naruto to get to his feet. Once Naruto was steady, Sasuke grabbed a small bottle of perfume and threw it at Naruto, just because he could.

"Ha. I win, oh-baka," Sasuke grinned. Naruto, on the other hand, growled and turned around to the still-open sliding door, clutching a bleeding nose as he did so.

"Teme…"

* * *

Naruto crouched on the ground in the middle of the bedroom, trying to wipe the blood away from his nose but, to his frustration, it kept cascading out of his nose. He growled. He couldn't believe that Sasuke had just pummeled him with hair-care products. How lousy. Punching the innocent floor he was crouching on, he squeezed his nose. It hurt.

"Damn Sasuke!" he yelled out. The blond boy froze when he felt something behind him. A pale hand was abruptly shoved into his vision. Clutched in the hand was a colorless handkerchief-thing with the letters U-C-H-I-H-A sewn onto it with black thread folded into a neat square. Naruto stared at the cloth anxiously, before turning his head to see who the hand belonged to. As Naruto's blue eyes traveled up the arm, the pale skin stopped and was cut off but fuzzy, cotton cloth. Naruto looked all the way up to see Sasuke's face. Draped over Sasuke's slim body, a pure white robe was wrapped around him, hugging his body. Naruto's eyes narrowed warily, ready for Sasuke to yell at him again. But Sasuke's features were free of anger, as if Naruto hadn't peeped on him just half an hour ago. Slowly, Naruto began to relax, but was still aware of his bloody nose. Turning his head slightly, he glanced behind Sasuke. Sasuke chuckled.

"I don't have any bottles to throw at you, Naruto," he muttered. Naruto sighed.

"If you're not here to throw bottles at me, then what do you want? And why are you waving that thing in my face?" he snapped, nipping at Sasuke's hand.

"I want you to take it, that's why."

"Ah…?" Naruto was caught off guard. He still expected Sasuke to be mad after what had happened during Sasuke's bath. "W-what…what for?"

Sasuke sighed. "For your nose, dobe. Or did you forget that it's bleeding?"

"And whose fault is that, teme!"

"Are you going to take it or not?" Sasuke asked impatiently, avoiding Naruto's question.

Naruto's scowl faltered, but he turned his head, away from Sasuke and the handkerchief. For some reason, he felt reluctant to take something of Sasuke's. "No, I'm fine."

"Naruto…you're not fine. Just take the damned thing already!"

"No! I…I don't want it!" Naruto protested, still refusing to look at Sasuke. Sasuke surprised the other ninja by kneeling down next to him, his hand grasping the handkerchief still outstretched.

"Why not?"

"Because! I'll get blood on it!" Naruto stated as it was the most obvious thing in the world. "And it's so…white… And my blood is so…well…red…"

Sasuke sighed. "If I cared about getting blood on it, would I be offering it to right now?"

Naruto gave Sasuke a sidelong glance. "Well…I'll—it'll…anou…"

"What?" Sasuke encouraged.

"I'll ruin it!"

Sasuke shrugged indifferently. "So?"

But Naruto still refused, looking at the ground. Sasuke sighed again and stepped in front of the other ninja, sitting cross-legged in front of him. Gently grabbing Naruto's jaw with his freehand so he wouldn't pull away, Sasuke reached over with the cloth and began dabbing at the blood on Naruto's face, slowly wiping the crimson liquid away. Naruto whimpered and tried to draw back, but Sasuke had a firm grip on his cheek. Trailing the white fabric across Naruto's cheek, Sasuke froze when the three unique marks appeared. Ever since he had met the other, Sasuke had wondered what those were and what they were from, but didn't pay them much mind. Sasuke ignored them and resumed cleaning Naruto's face of the crimson. The blood began to slowly disappear from Naruto's face, but, to Sasuke irritation, the blood continued to flow freely from Naruto's nose.

"Sasuke…" Naruto mumbled uncomfortably. Sasuke looked up.

"What is it?"

"Well…it's just that…I'm kinda bleeding on you…again."

Sasuke glanced at his hands. It was indeed true. Sasuke winced as some of Naruto's blood began to slowly trickle down Sasuke's wrist.

"And your cloth-thing is completely ruined…"

Sasuke shrugged and tried to offer a somewhat reassuring smile and continued to wipe at Naruto's bloodied face. It was the least he could do – after all, it was him who had bloodied Naruto in the first place.

After clearing the rest of the blood on Naruto's face, Sasuke gently placed the handkerchief on top of the bleeding nose and held it there. Naruto surrendered for a moment, but began to squirm under Sasuke's hold.

"Dammit, Sasuke! I can do it myself!" Naruto yelled, swatting said boy's hands away from his face and held onto the cloth himself.

"Fine."

After a moment of awkward silence, Sasuke sighed. Naruto looked up at him, expecting some sort of conversation from the Uchiha. Instead, Sasuke placed a hand on either one of Naruto's shoulders and slowly pulled him close to him. Naruto was stunned. Once Sasuke had Naruto pulled against his body in a tight embrace, though, Naruto whimpered and pulled away enough so that he was no longer pressed against Sasuke's body.

"What are you—?" Naruto started to ask, but he lost all thought process when he felt Sasuke's wrists resting against his hips. Naruto stared at Sasuke, but Sasuke was too busy watching as a bead of blood slowly dripped down from Naruto's nose into his lap. Naruto clenched the handkerchief tighter around his nose to stop the blood, but yelped when his nose started to sting. Hearing Naruto yelp, Sasuke pulled him back into a hug and rested his head on the smaller shinobi's head. Naruto inwardly growled. He hated being so small.

As Sasuke wrapped his arms around Naruto, Naruto began to relax into Sasuke's hold. Closing his eyes, Naruto smiled. Hugs were really…nice. He liked them a lot, but Sasuke was the only person to have ever given him a hug. Everyone else would just stay as far from him as they could. But not Sasuke. Never Sasuke.

Naruto smiled again and rested his head on Sasuke's shoulder, wrapping his arm around the Sasuke's so he could still hold the cloth to his nose.

_What an awkward situation…_ Naruto thought to himself. Out of the few other hugs he had received from Sasuke, this one was by far the most uncomfortable. But…during the other hugs, Naruto didn't have a bloody nose at the time, either. So Naruto figured that his bloody nose had something to do with this awkwardness. Naruto shrugged and tried to snuggle closer to Sasuke without getting blood on his shoulder. With a smile still plastered to his face, Naruto happily closed his eyes.

"Naruto?"

Only to open them again. Instantly, Naruto pulled his face out of Sasuke's shoulder and tried to put some distance between them, thinking that the reason Sasuke spoke was because he had gone too far or something.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that! Maybe I should—"

"How's your nose?" Sasuke asked.

"Eh? Uh…" Naruto looked down at the red-stained fabric and slowly pulled it away. Prodding his nose carefully to see if anymore blood would pour out of it, Naruto grinned when nothing came. Sasuke smiled back, but frowned again when Naruto's grin faltered.

"What?"

"Uh…" Naruto looked down at the handkerchief, avoid Sasuke's eyes. "Your thing…it's ruined…" Naruto mumbled. Sasuke sighed and grabbed the handkerchief out of Naruto's hands and tossed it to the side. Wrapping his arms back around Naruto's waist, Sasuke pulled Naruto into another hug.

"How many times do I have to say it, dobe? I. Don't. Care. About. That. Little piece of fabric. Got it?" Sasuke smiled when Naruto nodded and placed his head atop Naruto's again. Naruto grinned and fell into Sasuke once more, resting on the crook of his neck. Once he finally found a cozy spot to sink into on Sasuke's chest, Naruto rested his head against it and looked up at Sasuke. He had his eyes closed. Naruto closed his eyes as well as he wrapped his own arms securely around Sasuke.

"Does it hurt?" Sasuke muttered, making Naruto looked up at him again. His cold, black eyes were still closed.

"Hmm?" Naruto would've tilted his head, but Sasuke was busy resting on it, so he refrained from doing so. Instead, he just settled for watching the older ninja's lips move.

"Your nose…does it hurt?"

"No."

Sasuke sighed, relieved. "Good. When I saw the blood everywhere, I couldn't stand looking at it. I still feel a bit bad that I did that to you…Hmm, not really. I mean it might not have even been me. You could've hurt your nose when you fell on your face. Or maybe you just got a bloody nose from staring at my very sexy—"

"Sasuke!" Naruto interrupted. "A simple, 'I'm sorry' would work."

Naruto felt Sasuke sigh, but glanced up to see a small smile dancing on his lips. Naruto stared up at him expectantly, waiting for Sasuke to say something, but nothing was proffered from the Uchiha. Instead, Sasuke grabbed Naruto's left hand from behind his back and held it in midair. Slowly, he enclosed Naruto's hand within his own, their fingers becoming intertwined with each other. Naruto could feel warmth slowly spreading from the tips of his fingers, which Sasuke held captive, to the rest of his body, ending in his cheeks, making them turn pink with a blush. (If this 'fic was 'M' rated, the warmth would end somewhere else in Naruto's body and they wouldn't just be holding hands at the moment – but, unfortunately for both you and Sasuke, this 'fic has been rated 'T' and Sasuke and Naruto are still under the age of sixteen, so it'll have to end there. Damn.)

With their hands still knotted together, Sasuke bent low over Naruto and whispered two simple words that only Naruto would ever get to hear from him: "I'm sorry."

Naruto wasn't paying attention, however. He was too focused on how little space was between his face and Sasuke's. But that inferior little gap was slowly starting to shrink as Sasuke started to lean even closer to Naruto. Soon their noses were touching and Naruto was filled with the sweet aroma of Uchiha Sasuke. Beginning to panic, Naruto squeezed his eyes shut as he felt Sasuke's breath upon his face, all thought process suddenly and quite abruptly disabled. Naruto breathed in once, breathing in Sasuke's scent as he did so. Mmm…minty…

"Well, what do we have here?"

The two Chunin broke apart faster than the average eye could see when they heard a voice from the other end of the room. Unfortunately for them, however, their hands were still linked together and the two had to disentangle their fingers before actually splitting apart.

"K-K-Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto yelled breathlessly from one side of the room. For some reason, all the air had left his lungs when Sasuke was that close. "What are you doing sneaking up on us like that?"

"Hmm?" Kakashi tilted his head to the side. "Naruto, I said I had come back before I opened the door. You two must have been a little…" Kakashi smiled through the mask-thing. "…preoccupied to have noticed."

"What! No, we weren't! We weren't doing anything! We weren't preoccupied at all! You just…didn't speak loud enough for us to hear you, that's all," Naruto practically yelled, feeling the blush coming back. "Right Sasuke!" Naruto turned to Sasuke, hoping for some backup, but it never came. Sasuke was looking away – glaring at the ground would be a more precise way of putting it. If looks could kill, the ground would be six feet under by now. Well, if it had ever lived, that is. A slight, almost unnoticeable, blush was beginning to form across Sasuke's pale face. Naruto noticed it.

"Are you sure I didn't interrupt some hot love fest?" Kakashi probed, raising an eyebrow.

Naruto's blush deepened to a darker shade of red, but Sasuke acted as if he hadn't heard the man. Kakashi grinned when neither answered him. "I'm just kidding."

After looking the two boys over, Kakashi headed towards the bathroom, grabbing a towel as he went. Naruto stared at his hand as the bath faucet turned on in the bathroom, memories of the morning rushing back to both him and Sasuke. Keeping his gaze anywhere but the boy on the other side of the room, Naruto grinned half-heartedly.

His hand tingled.

* * *

**A/N:** Don't you just hate Kakashi right now? –shields Kakashi from rabid SasuNaru fangirls-

So there it is! …Man, did I really write all of that OMG-I-think-I'm-gonna-go-blow-chunks fluff? Hmm…I don't really know what to think of this chappy, but I hope you all liked it! I swear, SWEAR that the next update won't take as long to…well…update. I've put all of my other 'fics on hold until this one is finished! I really hope I haven't completely lost all of my readers/reviewers! Well…anyway, hey **Tsukasaru**! I added in your request!

* * *

**Tsukasaru**  
2006-06-30  
ch 17, reply

OMG YOU UPDATED I LOVE YOU -rabid glomp!- ... D Yeaah! .. HAHA. SO. I ENJOYED THIS. Sunrise. Good title. Cute. Omg. I dunno about suggestions. I want everything to be happee. xDD That's all I ask. Happy endings with mushy lovefests and yayness. :33 Lmao.. I'm psycho yeah. Hm. **Holding hands is cute? ;D They could like. Hold hands, all happily and stuff, and Kakashi could appear and they'd be like "OMG EEP BLUSH FLAIL SEPERATE WE DID NOTHING WTF U TALKIN' BOUT!" **HhahahahaHA. Yeh. WHEE. I love you, did I mention that? Lol. THIS STORY ROCKS MY SOCKS.

* * *

Did you like it! MEH! –flails around wildly- If you don't, just tell me. I can, like redo it or something…

Oh, if some of you people have no idea what I mean by request, take about 3 minutes to go back to chapter 17 (Sunrise) and read the first A/N. For those who are too lazy to do that, that I'll explain here. Any reviewer who I dedicated a chappy from THIS STORY to is allowed 1 request of what they want to see happen in this story. I swear it will be put into this 'fic if I have any say about it. And since I'm the author…well…yeah…T.T

I LOVE YOU ALL!

-hands cute, sexy, yet still murderous chibi Itachi and Gaara plushies to all readers/reviewers-

Oh, and SasuNaru haters, I didn't add a heads up like I know I should've done before Sasuke and Naruto held hands and almost kissed because Tsukasaru's request didn't say to add that in. AND the part where Naruto is talking to inanimate object is actually FACTUAL! IT HAPPENED TO ME A FEW DAYS AGO! (Yes, I was sick and became delusional...it was so cool) So, yeah...

Oh, don't forget, **Xaiony**! This chappy is inyour favor! You have the power to request something and have it come true! Yay you!

-bows-


	19. Renewed

**A/N:** Guess what, everybody! My sickness came back! It loves me! I feel so loved! –does happy dance– But…I haven't been able to hold anything down for the past couple days – which kinda sucks, since I'm pretty hungry at the moment, but I'm too scared to eat. Throwing up is not very pleasant. Maybe it was all that OMG-I-think-I'm-gonna-go-blow-chunks fluff from last chapter. Or maybe not. Maybe this sickness just sucks. But don't tell it I said that. I don't want it to leave me forever. Or maybe I do. I'm pretty much delusional at the moment, so I really don't know.

**Disclaimer:** As you all should know, I do NOT own Naruto. If I did, Sakura wouldn't be around anymore and Sasuke and Naruto would have A LOT more private time together to play with whips and chains (Ooh…kinky). But anyway, the reason I posted this disclaimer is because I stole something else that isn't mine (Ooh…thief). A kickass band called The Cult made the lyrics, 'Change your lives at the speed of light.** Show them fear, and they'll show you the knife**.' I took it from one of my all-time favorite songs by them, 'Black California'. Heh, I'm listening to it right now as I type. IMA REBEL! –goes off on her own to rebel against the world– TAKE THAT! JOIN ME, READERS, ON MY…journey? YES! JOURNEY TO REBEL! WHOOT!

Oh, yesh. By the way, last chapter was dedicated to **Xaiony**. Why? Cuz she just rules, that's why. And you all should bow down to her for coming up with the idea that she came up with. (You'll see towards the end). And you all should also bow down to me. Why? Just because I demand it. That's why. Heh, just kidding. You don't have to bow down to me. Yet. I haven't yet learned how to completely control human's minds yet, so enjoy your freedom while you can. Heh, just kidding. Sort of. –cough– Ahem. Anyway.

Oh! This chapter has been dedicated to none other than **Weavers**! I still can't believe someone likes this 'fic enough to add it to their favorites! Nuya! So yeah. You can request anything you'd like to see happen in this story, and it will be done! Though not next chapter. That's MY chapter. No one takes it! –shifty eyes– Wah! And it's so cute (or at least I think so, but I'm pretty much a pervert at times like this…)! So yay **Weavers**!

* * *

Chapter 19

Renewed

Naruto pulled his head out of the bathroom sink, gasping for air. He shivered as the icy water slowly trickled down the sides of his face. Looking up, he momentarily became cross-eyed as he watched a small droplet of water gradually dribbled down his forehead and down his nose. He looked in the mirror and cursed when he saw that his face still had a crimson shade to it. Once his breathing was normal again, he held his breath and dipped his head into the sink again. He was going to get rid of this blush one way or another. A soft chuckle behind him made freeze. Water sprayed over the mirror, causing his reflection to become disoriented, as Naruto's head snapped up, eyes set on the mirror in front of him. As droplets of water dripped down the length of the mirror, Naruto managed to see Kakashi standing at the doorway, smirking.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto turned around to face the real Kakashi instead of his reflection. Stashing his hands into his pockets, Kakashi strode over to Naruto, grabbing a plain white towel from off a towel rack as he did so. Handing the towel to Naruto, he leaned against the bathroom counter.

"What do you want?" Naruto snapped, snatching the towel away from Kakashi. Naruto, like many of the crazed, rabid, SasuNaru fangirls and fanboys who happened to witness what almost happened between him and Sasuke, was pissed that Kakashi had interrupted the two before climax point. Wiping off the excess water still dripping along the side of his face, Naruto casually placed the towel on his head, holding onto the ends of it.

Kakashi didn't answer at first, but raised a hand and gently placed it on Naruto's forehead. After a few moments, he asked, "How are you feeling?"

"Hmm?" Naruto drew back a bit, caught off guard by the question. "What do you mean? Are you calling me gay!" Naruto quickly accused. (Are you calling me gay! I know you are! I see it in your eyes! Admit it! –pounce–)

Kakashi ignored the last part of Naruto's sentence and stepped forward. "Your fever's seemed to have gone down, but how are you _feeling_? Any better than last night?" Kakashi withdrew his hand from Naruto's forehead. Naruto looked down, pondering Kakashi's question, before raising his head again.

"That's right…" Naruto muttered, more to himself than to Kakashi. "I was sick yesterday, wasn't I?" Kakashi nodded his assent. "I forgot about that…"

"So, I take it you're feeling better?"

Naruto shrugged. "Yeah. But I can't believe Sasuke didn't bother to ask if I was any better. Bastard. Well, I didn't bother to remember, so I guess it's alright. But Mr. Chair didn't bother to ask, either. Oh well."

"Um…Mr. Chair?"

"Yes. I had a very heartfelt conversation with Mr. Chair this morning. Well, except it was ignoring me the whole time, so never mind." Naruto shrugged. After that, the two shinobi stood in silence. Naruto was just about to turn and leave the bathroom when he suddenly remembered something that had been bugging him earlier.

"Hey Kakashi-sensei, where were you this morning? You were gone, right? Or…you weren't spying on me and Sasuke, were you!" Naruto glared at Kakashi suspiciously. He wouldn't put it past the man to have spied on them while they were in the middle of…_bonding_…

"Did I…miss something? Is there a _reason_ for someone to have spied on you two? Something you'd like to tell me?" Kakashi leaned forward to add effect to his words and grinned when Naruto froze. Laughing at the boy's expression, Kakashi straightened again.

"I kid! I kid!" Naruto glared at Kakashi, who grinned back. "And as for where I was this morning, I was seeing the Mizukage, trying to schedule the day for our meeting."

Naruto's eyes widened as he remembered the reason for their being there. "That's right! Well? When is it?"

"Hmm…" Kakashi crossed his arms. "He didn't say exactly, but he did say it would be a few more days until we could meet with him."

Naruto shrugged indifferently, but mentally yelled in anger. He hated staying there – everyone in the village seemed to hate him, and scary things kept happening between him and Sasuke. And what was even scarier was that…Naruto didn't exactly mind. When he got close to Sasuke, he felt…comfortable. Well, not that he would know. No one ever had the desire to come anywhere close to the blond boy before except Sasuke and Iruka. But Iruka doesn't count. Iruka was like a father to him, and Naruto wasn't interested in getting close to Iruka like that. Well, he wasn't very interested in getting close to Sasuke in that sense, either, no matter what types feelings fluttered through his body when they touched. But whatever the feeling was, it made Naruto feel content. He liked the feeling, but he didn't like the way to get the feeling. While being around Sasuke made Naruto feel happy, it also made him nervous. He was constantly on-edge around the older boy.

Shrugging again, Naruto decided to file that bit of information to the back of his mind where it could fester into a mental illness until he knew what to do with it.

"See ya, sensei!" With a wave of his hand, Naruto turned away from the man and walked to the door, slid it open, and stepped out of the bathroom.

* * *

As Naruto stepped out of the bathroom and slid the door shut, he froze and stared. Staring back at him was Sasuke, still wrapped in the bathrobe. But moments after, Sasuke broke their eye contact and turned away, grabbing his clothes as he did so.

"Sasuke? Um…"

"I'm going to go change. Don't touch anything. Don't lick anything. Don't spy on me. Just…I dunno. Don't move," he told the blond, walking into a closet to change. Naruto twiddled his thumbs for a moment, bored with the concept of not moving, and started to fidget around restlessly. He was struck with a sudden urge to walk over to the chair he had had a conversation with earlier that morning and lick it, but he resisted the urges for two reasons; 1) He had a feeling that the chair probably wouldn't appreciate him doing that at all and 2) He _knew_ Sasuke wouldn't appreciate him doing that when he had just said not to lick anything. Heh. That bastard was probably watching him at that precise moment with his sharingan from the closet to see if he licked or touched anything. Jerk.

Naruto crossed his arms defiantly and decided to become a rebel at that moment. If Sasuke wanted him to not move from where he was standing, too bad. He was going to do it anyway. That'll show him not to order Uzamaki Naruto around. If anything, HE was going to be the seme! No, that came out wrong! A blush slowly crept to his face again. A sudden image of him and Sasuke popped into his mind. In fact, it came from the very back of his mind where the information he learned just moments ago that was slowly starting to fester into a mental illness came from. It involved Sasuke begging for mercy and calling Naruto 'master' while Naruto held a whip and was laughing. Yes…he would make a great seme… Naruto failed at stifling a snicker as he turned and left the room, entering a hallway. Wandering around until he found a staircase leading to a floor below the one he was on, Naruto grabbed the stair rails and slid down. When he reached the bottom, he jumped off the rails and, without sparing one last glance at the room above him, he ran to the door of the Inn, opened it, and ran out before the receptionist could kick him out again.

* * *

Sasuke couldn't believe it. He just couldn't believe it. His eyes had widened moments ago, making the red glow from the sharingan stand out even more in the dark closet. Slowly, Sasuke blinked. He still couldn't believe what he had just seen in Naruto's mind.

Him? Sasuke? Being dominated by someone such as Naruto? Never. An Uchiha was never dominated. They were the ones to dominate, not the other way around. Sasuke chuckled at Naruto's ridiculous thought and pulled on his shirt.

* * *

Looking around at the few stores, Naruto clenched at his stomach. As if responding to the recognition, it let out a loud 'guu' hungrily, begging to be fed. Passerby's stared at him strangely before their stares turned to glares and resumed whatever they were doing. Naruto sighed to himself. He was hungry, but had no money to pay for his food. One of the reasons he had persisted Tsunade-sama to allow him to take on this mission was because of the much needed money it provided. He had exhausted all of his money a fortnight before the mission had been requested and hadn't eaten for a while.

But Naruto had become accustomed to not eating for a while. For him, money was hard to come by, so he never had proper meals growing up. When he was still a small child, the Hokage had supplied him a little money every month to survive on, but he still couldn't afford an appropriate meal. He had grown up on eating ramen – it was the least expensive item in the small store where he bought his food at – and that was the main reason he'd grown up to love ramen so much. (Heh, ramen is all I can afford too cuz rent is so damn expensive!)

Naruto crossed his arms across his chest, as if to keep his stomach from making anymore noises, and stared at the ground. Living alone your whole life not only had its 'downs' but its 'ups' as well. After all the years of being alone, Naruto had gained much more experience in being independent than many others his age had. He never needed – never _had_ anyone in his life to help support him, so he learned how to take care of himself and every one of his needs at an extremely early age. Naruto grew up one his own, suspecting every person he had met, trusting no one but his own self. It was about that age that his 'mask' was made that he used to cover any emotion he was feeling at the time. After that, he lived by one principle:

'Show them fear, and they'll show you the knife.'

Naruto refused to let others see his pain and fear. They would only take advantage of it and hurt him even more than they already had. So, he figured that if he just covered up his emotions, people wouldn't have the chance to hurt him anymore. Thus, the beginning of his supposedly impenetrable 'mask'. (He hid his emotions and they were slowly, gradually festering into a mental illness, like so many teenagers do now. –sigh– Such wonderful, yummy teenage angst…)

Suddenly Naruto stopped in his tracks. Something seemed…extremely wrong with this place. It was like…it was missing something. But much to Naruto's chagrin, the prospect of what it was that was missing eluded Naruto grasp and his befuddled mind decided to file that away as well.

"Naruto?"

Naruto looked up at the sound of him name being called and was surprised to see Sakura walking towards him. In her hands were two bags filled with chips and other snacks. Naruto could feel stomach growling at the food, but managed to retrain his stomach's rabid outburst for food as Sakura was up to him.

"Hi, Sakura-chan!"

"Naruto, where are you going?" Sakura asked, shifting the bags in her hands.

"Back. I'm feeling better, so I don't have to stay at the Inn anymore," Naruto grinned and flailed his arms around as if to proved to her that he was feeling better. Sakura smiled.

"Good."

"Oh yeah! Thanks for taking care of me, Sakura-chan!" Naruto's grin widened as he took a step towards Sakura, his arms wide open.

"Naruto! Don't hug me! A simple 'thank you' is enough!" She yelled, dropping her bags and pushing him away. Naruto's grin faltered, but he continued to smile. Sakura looked away from the sunny blond boy and picked up her bags again. "Well, I have to get these back to Sasuke-kun and Kakashi-sensei. Do you…wanna come back with me?" she asked hesitantly.

Naruto frowned. "Nah, no thanks Sakura-chan. I'm going back to the forest. I just got away from the Inn – I have no intention of going back." Sakura smiled and sighed happily, but Naruto continued. "Especially not when that Sasuke-teme is there. He'd make me loose my appetite, anyway…"

Sakura's smile quickly turned into a scowl. "Naruto!" she yelled angrily, hitting him on the head. Naruto cried out and covered the sore area with his hands.

"Sakura-chan! What did I do this time!" Naruto whined. Whenever he said anything negative about her 'beloved Sasuke-kun', she would inflict pain upon his innocent and naive head.

"Don't insult Sasuke-kun, baka!"

Naruto growled and muttered something under his breath, causing Sakura to sigh. Shifting the bags in her hands to a more comfortable position, she looked at Naruto. "Well, I have to get back to the Inn. If you're not coming, then I'll go alone. I'll tell Sasuke-kun and Kakashi-sensei that you went back into the forest. See you, 'kay?"

Naruto nodded as she walked past him, bags in hand. "Bye, Sakura-chan!" he yelled to her retreating form. She turned slightly and gave a quick wave before continuing. Naruto turned his back on her and began the trek to his little hut outside of the village, ignoring the sinking sensation he was feeling. He shivered. _Think happy thoughts_, he mentally told himself. _Nothing bad is happening, so just…don't think about that. Think about something else._

His stomach growled hungrily as the thought of ramen crossed him mind. Patting his stomach, he made his way out of the village and into the forest.

* * *

Thirty minutes later, Naruto found his way to the small opening where his little encampment was based. It was past one thirty and the sun was high above Naruto's head, laughing dryly at him. Its laugh only increased the dread Naruto felt from before. Glaring up at the blinding, sunny orb of light, Naruto tried to shake the feeling and reached out for the brush covering his camp. Swiping the stray branches away from his view, Naruto felt his jaw drop and realized why he had had such a bad feeling haunting him.

His once petty, but cozy camp was in ruins. The shack made from saplings that Sasuke had built for him was completely desecrated. Branches and other random pieces of wood were scattered everywhere, some seemed to be burned. Others were still on fire. The blankets that once made Naruto's bed littered the floor. Hardly any of them were still whole and intact. Naruto glanced around the opening, the damage becoming worse as he eyed his surroundings.

"The hell? …Ah…Oh my shit…" (Credit goes to **Tsukasaru** for '_Oh my shit!_' I think that exclamation just rocks…) Naruto was unable to string a sentence together as he began to tremble. Wrapping his arms securely around himself, Naruto squeezed his eyes shut, trying desperately to make the scene in front of him to disappear. What would Sasuke think? He and Sakura had worked so hard to make a place suitable for Naruto to live, and now that very place was in ruins. Their hard work had gone to waste.

Ignoring his quivering lip, Naruto walked over to the chaos and disarray of wood and cloth and began to slowly pick up the fractures of wood from the ground. Once his arms were filled with small wood chunks, he threw them into a pile, wincing as he felt splinters dig into his skin. He sighed, wising he had gloves with him. They were cool and sexy and made people look tough – and they also protected your hands from sadistic, homicidal wood. Glancing down at his hands, Naruto grimaces when he saw small specks of blood forming in random areas on the irritated tissues of his hands. But Naruto ignored the crimson liquid as it began to slowly drip down his hands. At that moment, his main worry was Sasuke and Sakura's reactions to what had happened. Making up his mind, Naruto placed his bleeding hands on his hips, a determined look set across his facial features.

"I just won't tell them about this!" he stated aloud, picking up more wood and dumping it all into a pile. "They don't need to know about this anyway. I'll just…gather some of the blankets and make a bed out of those. What they don't know can't hurt them, I guess…"

As he continued to pile the wood pieces half an hour later, the splinters became embedded even deeper into his hands and sweat started dripping off his back. When all of the wood had finally been piled together and out of the way, Naruto began to fold the blankets together, putting the kakebuton on top. A sudden noise behind him made him spin around to face the intruder. Naruto froze. It was the main person he did **not** want to see at that moment.

"Naru…to?"

"Ah! Sa-Sasuke! What are you…Uh, go! Go away!" Naruto yelled at his raven haired companion, trying to cover up the fact that the little hut had been torn down. "Don't look, just…go!"

"Naruto, what happened!" Sasuke said, his voice at the usual calm level it was usually at. It wasn't in the Uchiha nature to yell, but somehow Sasuke could be even more intimidating speaking normally rather than yelling at times. Naruto backed away as Sasuke took a step closer to him, eyeing what used to be the shack he had made. Looking to his left, he saw a piece of burning wood slowly turn to blacked ash. Naruto spotted the burning wood at the same time Sasuke did and jumped for it. Crouching down and hiding it from Sasuke's view, he began trying to pat the fire out. Ignoring the scorching feeling spreading throughout his already hurt hands, Naruto flinched when he felt a strong hand on his shoulder pulling him up, away from the alit piece of wood. Naruto continued to watch as the wood burn to the ground, even as the strong hands turned him around to face the owner of the hands.

"Naruto!" Even as Sasuke called out his name, Naruto's gaze was transfixed on the flaming kindle. Once he felt hands on his own, however, his gaze snapped up to the coal eyes in front of him.

"You're bleeding…again. God, you bleed a lot," Sasuke muttered. He gently ran his hands over Naruto's smaller, calloused ones, smiling gently as the boy shivered with pleasure and whimpered at the soothing feeling tenderly rubbing against his irritated, burned hands. (He's just being soothed, people! Meh…perverts…T.T)

Sasuke's small smile soon disappeared and his eyes widened as Naruto's cuts disappeared. They were gone – as if they had never been there in the first place. Sasuke didn't realize his intake of breath, making Naruto look down at his hands. Realizing what had happened, Naruto gasped and quickly yanked his hands away and out of Sasuke's reach, hugging them to his chest. But it was too late – Sasuke had already seen.

"Naruto…? Ah, your hands…the cuts…they're…they're gone?" Sasuke stuttered. Naruto took a step back, holding his hands away from the offending Uchiha.

"Get away!" Naruto yelled, taking another step back.

"Naruto, stop!" Sasuke commanded, reaching a hand out towards Naruto. Naruto didn't listen and took another step back, stopping when he felt something warm engulfing his feet. Looking down, he shouted in shock when he saw scarlet flames licking at his right foot, slowly catching onto his pant's leg.

"Ah!" he cried out, stomping on the piece of wood. It wouldn't go out, and stomping on it was only making it worse, but in Naruto's panic, he didn't realize this and kept smashing his foot into the flames, trying desperately to put an end to them. Suddenly, he felt something crash into him. After that his vision collided with the ground. Something warm and soft was on top of him. A very heavy something.

"Sasuke!" Naruto cried out. He opened his mouth to say something else, but stopped when he was suddenly on top of Sasuke.

"Uh…" A slight blush of Naruto's face became known to the world as Sasuke rolled over so he was on top. This continued until Naruto remembered how to breathe and took a breath. Trying to restrain his blush, Naruto looked up at Sasuke. But then looked down at him as Sasuke rolled over again. Then back up.

"Oh my god! Sasuke's trying to rape me! Somebody help! Rape! Rape!" Naruto yelled out. No one answered, but two squirrels in a tree stared at the two Chunin rolling around on the ground together. "Augh! My leg! It burns! Rape! Help! Rape!"

Suddenly the rolling stopped; Naruto was on bottom again. Sasuke had his eyes shut in a snarl and growled, "Would you shut up, dobe! I'm not raping you for god's sake! What are you supposed to do when you catch on fire?" he tried again in a calmer tone of voice.

"Sasuke! I'm not stupid! If you catch on fire, you're supposed to put it out! Duh! Everybody knows that!" Naruto grumbled.

Sasuke sighed. "Stop, drop, and roll, baka! You were too scared to do so yourself! If it weren't for me, your pants would've burned off!"

"I wasn't scared! And I didn't need your…" Naruto trailed off as he felt something burning his leg…really badly. Looking down at his right leg, he shrieked. "Oh my god! I'm on fire, I'm on fire, I'M ON FIRE, DAMMIT!" he yelled, kicking his legs and flailing his arms around, making Sasuke duck to avoid being hit. Grabbing Naruto's arms and pinning them down next to his squirming body, Sasuke tried to calm him down.

"Calm down, Naruto. You'll hurt me."

"THEN GET OFF OF ME!" Naruto yelled into Sasuke's ear, making Sasuke flinch.

"CALM DOWN!" Sasuke ordered. Hearing Sasuke yell, Naruto ceased his flailing and kicking, but continued to squirm underneath Sasuke's weight. Sasuke slowly rose to his hands and knees and slowly made his way down the length of Naruto's body until he reached the flames engulfing Naruto's pant leg. Using his hands to pat out the flames, he gently ran his up Naruto's leg, extinguishing all of the flames.

_(Ok, I have to stop now. Too much sexual tension for me to continue like this. My goal for this 'fic is to keep it 'T' RATED! If I keep going like this, it'll go up to 'M'!)_

Once the flames were put out, Sasuke extended a hand towards Naruto. Naruto looked at Sasuke warily, before decided that Sasuke wasn't going to try and rape him again and grabbed the outstretched hand. A strong grip helped him to his feet.

"Naruto. Will you tell me what happened here, now? Who tore your camp down? And why were pieces on fire?" Sasuke demanded quietly.

"Sasuke…" Naruto shrugged helplessly. "I don't know. I left the Inn and came here. When I got here, the place was in ruins."

Sasuke sighed. "Well…I suppose we'll have to rebuild you something…" Sasuke trailed off, looking at the pile of wood disdainfully. Naruto stopped in his tracks, turned to face Sasuke, and began to study him.

"What is it?" Sasuke asked, taking a step closer to the blond.

"Ah…well…are you…are you mad?" Naruto asked hesitantly, ducking his head. Sasuke chuckled halfheartedly and cupped Naruto's chin, raising his face so it met Sasuke's.

"Dobe…" he muttered before releasing his hold on Naruto and made his way towards the torn blankets.

To Naruto's surprise, Sasuke began trying to rebuild the shack from the small, broken pieces of wood. Naruto tried to help out to the best of his ability, but Sasuke kept pushing him away. After hours of trying with no avail to rebuilt Naruto's little hut, Sasuke gave up. The pieces wouldn't stay together and Sasuke kept getting annoying little splinters. By five in the afternoon, Sasuke had formed a new plan.

"Naruto, come with me." Sasuke told the blond boy, grabbing the blankets and beginning to hack his way through the forest with a kunai. Naruto, confused, stood where he was for a moment, but nodded and grabbed the kakebuton, following Sasuke's lead through the forest. Catching up, he tugged on Sasuke's arm. Sasuke glanced down at him.

"Where are we going?"

Sasuke shrugged nonchalantly. "The villagers obviously found your came – no one else would've burned it down. So I'm moving you away from that area. Somewhere where only I'll find you. And Sakura and Kakashi, of course."

"Oh…"

* * *

By the time Sasuke found a small outcropping by a river, the sun was beginning to set.

"Stay here." He instructed to his companion. Naruto nodded in response, and Sasuke went off on his own, leaving Naruto alone in the opening. Sitting down by the river's soft edge, Naruto placed a hand into it, breaking the water's eerie surface. The rapid was relentless. Taking his hand back, Naruto shivered. It was cold, too. Looking behind him, Naruto watched as Sasuke emerged from the bushes, two long saplings in his hands.

"Sasuke…?"

"Naruto. Come here for a second."

Naruto nodded and rose to his feet, making his way towards Sasuke. Using a kunai, Sasuke chopped on of the saplings in half, Sasuke set up the trees in the basic structure of a simple tent. Motioning Naruto to his side, Sasuke held the saplings in place.

"I need you take a blanket and use it as the covering for your tent, Naruto. Can you do that?" Sasuke smirked. Naruto glared back, but didn't say anything and instead grabbed a still-intact blanket and yanked it over the saplings. Sasuke grunted angrily as Naruto used to much force and caused the saplings to slip from Sasuke hold and disassemble themselves into a small pile.

"You. Are. Hopeless." Sasuke growled. Naruto rolled his eyes at Sasuke, who picked the sticks back up and nodded at Naruto, ready. This time, Naruto gently draped the blanket over the arranged saplings.

"Good. Now take out a kunai and tack the corners into place so it'll stay in place." Naruto did as Sasuke instructed and took out a kunai. Slamming it into one of the corners, he saw Sasuke slowly get up to do the same with a corner opposite of his. But as Sasuke roughly yanked the corner into place, Naruto's kunai popped out of the ground, making the blanket fly up. Naruto pitched forward, but felt hands underneath him catch him and sit him upright.

"Domo…" Naruto muttered his 'thanks' before sitting back and out of Sasuke's reach. Sasuke sighed and set the saplings back in place, before nodding to Naruto. Grasping his kunai in both hands, Naruto jabbed it into the blanket once more. He moved to the corner next to it and took out another kunai to do the same. Soon, the little tent was set up and it was just big enough to fit the kakebuton and other remaining blankets inside. Standing up, Naruto happily pumped his fists into the air.

"We did it! Finally!" Naruto shouted happily, jumping around and punching at the air. Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"All we did was put up a tent, dobe, it's not that hard. Well…It wouldn't be hard for any decent ninja, you on the other hand…" Sasuke let his voice trail off teasingly and smirked. Naruto growled at him and punched out at him violently, but Sasuke caught his offending fist and kicked at Naruto's ankle, making the boy trip. Sasuke laughed as the younger ninja was thrown forward, but wasn't expecting what came next. As Naruto fell hard onto Sasuke, trying to make him fall as well, Naruto's face dug into Sasuke's neck, causing the older nin to stiffen. Sasuke looked down at Naruto, stifling a sneeze as his face was met with and surrounded by blond hair. Naruto slowly raised his, and immediately wished he hadn't. His face was now in Sasuke's – his forehead resting on the bridge of Sasuke's nose in-between his eyes. Now all Naruto had to look at was a very Uchiha-like nose. And don't get him wrong, it's not like he thought Uchiha noses were ugly – quite the opposite, in fact. Naruto just didn't like having noses shoved in his face. Quickly becoming uncomfortable, Naruto shifted his head around to find a more comfortable position, but froze when he felt something warm against his lips.

* * *

Sasuke became rigid when he felt Naruto's lips brush against his own. They stayed frozen like that for what seemed like hours before Naruto abruptly pulled away, his face bright red, the small, and chaste kiss that had left him breathless. Gasping for air he stared at Sasuke. Sasuke stared back intently, a turmoil of jumbled thoughts flowing through his mind. Sasuke's befuddled mind couldn't grasp and comprehend the meaning of any of these thoughts except, 'We kissed, we kissed, WE KISSED!' Naruto looked down, away from Sasuke shocked face shamefully. Sasuke, however, was overcome by some strange animal instinct when he lost sight of Naruto's glossy cerulean eyes and desired to see them again – craved to feel that warm sensation upon his lips once more. Bringing a hand to Naruto cheek, he slowly raised the blond boy's head to face his own and began gently guiding Naruto's face closer to his own.

* * *

Naruto could feel his face burning up and felt as if his head was about to explode. He tried looking away, but Sasuke had a firm grip on his cheek.

_Dammit, dammit, DAMMIT ALL! What the hell just happened! Stupid Sasuke! Dammit, I bet he planned it like that! Wait…what the hell is he doing now! Why the hell are our faces getting closer together! No…stop, stop it please! _

Naruto squeezed his eyes shut, shivering as he felt Sasuke's breath upon his face. He didn't want Sasuke feeling the same on his face, so Naruto held his breath. His mind was raging a great war at the moment – one side was Pro-Sasuke, while the other was Anti-Sasuke and they were brawling it out to the theoretical death.

'**_He cares for us and saves us all time from evil sea gulls and giant, homicidal cliffs! Plus, he smells good!'_** Pro-Sasuke argued, delivering an impressive body slam to the Anti-Sasuke, leaving it momentarily incapacitated. _'**And he makes our belly do that cool butterfly thing!'**_

Anti-Sasuke pounced on Pro-Sasuke's back, biting viciously at his ear. _'**He's only saved us from falling to our death so he could grope us! Remember the time when we were trying to reach the top of that tree using chakra and we fell off! Sasuke was groping the hell out of us after he caught us!'**_

'**_You wouldn't know! WE WERE FRICKEN UNCONCIOUS!'_** Pro-Sasuke yelled, sending a massive bitchslap Anti-Sasuke's way. Anti-Sasuke tackled Pro-Sasuke to the ground roughly and punched him in the stomach.

'**_Well I wasn't!'_** Anti-Sasuke yelled even louder, punching Pro-Sasuke in the stomach once more. Pro-Sasuke managed to get his feet under Anti-Sasuke and kicked as hard as he could, sending Anti-Sasuke flying over his head and landing sharply on his back. Pro-Sasuke quickly scrambled on top of Anti-Sasuke so he was straddling him and began striking Anti-Sasuke in the face.

'**_He likes us enough to save us from potential, premature DEATH on multiple occasions! Does that mean NOTHING to you! It's not like we've ever really had friends before, so why push them away NOW!'_** Pro-Sasuke punched Anti-Sasuke in the jaw, hard, and broke it. **_'HE'S SPECIAL, DAMMIT!'_** Pro-Sasuke shouted.

Anti-Sasuke ignored the pain in his now-broken jaw and shoved Pro-Sasuke off of him. Standing up, Anti-Sasuke strutted over to his enemy and began kicking him in the ribs over and over again. **_'Special my ass! The only thing special about him is that he's an Uchiha! And that just means he's an arrogant, selfish jackass!'_**

Pro-Sasuke winced as he felt a few ribs cracking. Coughing up blood, he glared at Anti-Sasuke. **_'He's not selfish! If he was, we would've been dead long ago!'_**

Latching onto Anti-Sasuke's leg as he kicked at him, Pro-Sasuke flipped Anti-Sasuke on his backside and began jumping on him. **_'We like him, AND THAT'S FINAL!'_** Anti-Sasuke gasped out a simple, **_'Okay'_**, before passing out. Pro-Sasuke grinned triumphantly.

Naruto leaned closer to Sasuke as their lips were just about to connect, when suddenly three things happened at once and multiple screams and curses were heard throughout the forest.

"HOLY SHIT!"

"OH MY GOD!"

"Dammit!"

Sasuke flailed backwards and fell on the ground as he tried to pry something white off of his head. Naruto watched in horror as a pure white cat latched itself onto Sasuke's head and was clawing at it. Naruto screamed 'Oh my god' again as the cat turned and pounced on Naruto. Naruto felt himself falling backwards as the cat came in contact with his head.

"Naruto!" Sasuke yelled, getting to his feet. He rushed over to his companion and grabbed the cat, flinging it off of Naruto. The cat laughed evilly and landed on all fours about 10 feet away ('laughed evilly'…hmm, does that sound familiar?) Sasuke held out a hand to Naruto, who gratefully accepted it and rose to his feet with Sasuke's help. He still couldn't believe what had happened and what had almost again between the two of them, but that was one of the least of his worries at the moment. The two shinobi stared at the cat expectantly, hands at their kunai pack, waiting for the cat to move. Instead, the cat just laughed. Naruto froze – he had heard that laugh before.

"Wait! Who…are you? I know that evil laugh!" Naruto shouted. The cat only laughed again. "Ah…! The…the…" Naruto's face began to dawn with realization. "The seagull!" Naruto accused, pointed his finger at the cat. The cat continued to laugh and nodded.

"Hai…I am the seagull. After the Uchiha next to you killed me, I was reincarnated as a cat to come back and haunt you, Uzumaki. And so many more possibilities I have been granted now that I have claws…" The feline laughed and stretched out his claws, as if to prove to Naruto and Sasuke that he really did have them. Before the two boys could make a move, the cat pounced on Naruto again. Naruto fell backwards and hit his head against a tree, knocking him out. Sasuke quickly yanked the cat off of Naruto and hurled it away from him as the cat began to claw at him. As the cat landed gracefully on all fours, Sasuke pulled out a handful of kunai and chucked all of them in the cat's direction. The cat elegantly jumped away from the offending blades and onto a tree branch above Sasuke's head. The cat turned and looked over his furry shoulder at Sasuke, stuck out his tongue at him, and leapt away. Sasuke began to follow the reincarnated seagull so he could kill it again, but heard Naruto groan from the ground and froze. Looking at the blond, Sasuke sighed.

_Dammit…what the hell had come over me?_ Not want to know the answer, Sasuke bent down and picked Naruto up in his arms, grunting when he could barely lift the younger boy.

"God damn, Naruto! That can't just be all ramen in you! Grunt," Sasuke grunted, shifting Naruto in his arms so he was carrying him bridal style. He slowly carried him near the small tent and lay him down gently next to it. Absentmindedly, Sasuke's eyes traveled the length of Naruto's body, only stopping when they reached Naruto's lips. They were wet. Before Sasuke knew what he was doing, he was slowly and hesitantly leaning over Naruto, his hand wandering to rest on the nape of his neck. But Sasuke stopped, suddenly, a Pro-Naruto and an Anti-Naruto battle raging on in his own head.

Sighing, Sasuke sat back on his heels. Anti-Naruto had Pro-Naruto in a headlock and was winning the battle. Rubbing a hand over his face, Sasuke looked away from his unconscious teammate. "What the hell am I doing…?" he asked no one in particular.

Turning around to the mediocre tent they had built together, Sasuke began rearranging the blankets so they were inside the tent and shoved the kakebuton in afterwards. Returning his attention to Naruto, he grabbed the younger boy and pulled him into the tent, laying him down on the kakebuton and covered him with a few blankets. Stepping out of the tent, Sasuke stretched his arms above his head, wincing as he heard his back crack. Grabbing on of the torn blankets, he headed towards the river next to the opening and crouched down. Dipping the rag in the icy water, Sasuke drenched the cloth and pulled it out, wringing the excess water out of it so it was only partially damp. Standing up, he walked back to Naruto's side and kneeled down next to him. Raising his head slightly, Sasuke gently groped the back of Naruto's head, sighing when he felt a small bump, put the wet rag under his head and laid him down softly. Once Naruto was settled, Sasuke gently tucked him in like a mother would her child (Heh, Sasuke acting motherly? Yeah right…) and sat back against the wall of the tent, watching as Naruto slept. There were many things on his mind at the moment, but Sasuke pushed those to the back of his mind and crawled out of the tent. His first priority was taking care of Naruto.

It always had been.

* * *

**A/N: **Phew! I have to say, that was weird! I really have to thank **Xaiony** for coming up with that idea!

"hm, what to request. maybe, **you could make them kiss -in accident**! in the forest when naruto goes back to his camp! right after he gets kicked out of the inn cuz of the owner (wow that's evil -not really). ooh, could you maybe do that? pretty please :) heheh."

Well! There it is, **Xaiony**! What do you think! Do you like it! I…really hope so, aheh! But…if you don't, tell me, and I'll do something else to make up for it. Whether you like it or not, I'm glad I wrote it! It wasn't, like, an actual kiss, but it was just enough to make Sasuke crave a real one! Whoo! –parties– Meh, poor Naruto. He' so confused…And what do you think of Pro-Sasuke and Anti-Sasuke! Who do you guys vote for, Pro-Sasuke or Anti-Sasuke? And should I bring them back? I'm not very good at fight scenes, (as you can tell) remember chapter 10 (Fight Scene – The Real Thing). Remember that? God, that sucked…Meepy n.n

Oh, and sorry about this update. I finished this three days ago (excluding the last paragraph) but my obaa-san and ojii-san were having marriage problems and I went to visit them to try and make things better, but I'm pretty sure I made things worse. –sigh– Oh well. They can get a divorce if they like, I'm pretty much used to divorces (I have 3 fricken stepdads, dammit!). Oh, and I finally figured out how to find out the stats for my 'fics, and this 'fic has 17148 hits…I really have no clue what's a lot and what isn't, but since my other 'fics only have, like, 1000 hits, I'll be happy and do the happy dance. –happy dance– This chappy is 14 pages long (without the author's notes) and has 6360 words, 29502 characters, 121 paragraphs, 568 sentences, yet my 'readability grade level' is only 6.8 (6TH GRADE, DAMMIT!) Do you guys think this chappy is at a 6th grade readability level?

Review and get a cookie! (Don't forget, **Weavers**, you can make a request!)


	20. Hate Me

**A/N:**  
I have to block out thoughts of you so I don't lose my head  
They crawl in like a cockroach leaving babies in my bed  
Dropping little reels of tape to remind me that I'm alone  
Playing movies in my head that make a porno feel like home  
There's a burning in my pride, a nervous bleeding in my brain  
An ounce of peace is all I want for you. Will you never call again?  
And will you never say that you love me just to put it in my face?  
And will you never try to reach me? It is I that wanted space

**Hate me today  
Hate me tomorrow  
Hate me so for all the things I didn't do for you **

Hate me in ways  
Yeah ways hard to swallow  
Hate me so you can finally see what's good for you

I'm sober now for 3 whole months it's one accomplishment that you helped me with  
The one thing that always tore us apart is the one thing I won't touch again  
In my sick way I want to thank you for holding my head up late at night  
While I was busy waging wars on myself, you were trying to stop the fight  
You never doubted my warped opinions on things like suicidal hate  
You made me compliment myself when it was way too hard to take  
So I'll drive so fucking far away that I never cross your mind  
And do whatever it takes in your heart to leave me behind

**Hate me today  
Hate me tomorrow  
Hate me for all the things I didn't do for you **

Hate me in ways  
Yeah ways hard to swallow  
Hate me so you can finally see what's good for you

And with a sad heart I say bye to you and wave  
Kicking shadows on the street for every mistake that I had made  
And like a baby boy I never was a man  
Until I saw your blue eyes cry and I held your face in my hand  
And then I fell down yelling "Make it go away!"  
Just make a smile come back and shine just like it used to be  
And then she whispered "How can you do this to me?"  
**  
Hate me today  
Hate me tomorrow  
Hate me for all the things I didn't do for you **

Hate me in ways  
Yeah ways hard to swallow  
Hate me so you can finally see what's good for you

I don't own Blue October, originator of this song.

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Chapter 20

Hate Me

Sasuke slowly crawled back into the small tent where Naruto lay covered by the blankets and quietly sat down next to him. Ever since the younger boy had passed out, Sasuke had been trying to set up blockades around the area so no one else could try to ruin Naruto's life. In only twenty minutes, Sasuke had set up a type of primitive alarm system by tying a string of wire around the camp in a circle with a twenty meter radius and making a notch with a kunai into a nearby tree trunk. Attaching bells to the wire, Sasuke tied the wire to the tree and set the wire about a foot off of the ground. If anyone were to attempt to breach the small opening where Naruto was staying, they'd trip the wire and set off the bells of doom. Then Sasuke could get to them and hurt them as much as they had hurt Naruto. Sasuke could feel his fist clench involuntarily.

Taking a breath, he glanced down at the sleeping figure. Angry thoughts invaded his mind as he remembered that moment only forty minutes ago. He shook his head as Anti-Naruto berated him for getting that close to the blond boy. Sighing, Sasuke reached over and slowly slid his fingers under the blonds' head and lifted him up, gently cradled Naruto's head in his hand. He snatched the now-dried cloth from underneath Naruto's head and tenderly probed the back of his raised head. A small smile danced across the Uchiha's lips as he felt the bump had gotten slightly smaller. Resting Naruto's head back down on the kakebuton, Sasuke crawled back out of the tent and stood. Taking the cloth back to the river, he dunked it into the chilly water, shivering as the water caressed his skin, and raised it back out. Wringing the surplus water from it, Sasuke rose to his feet and made his way back to the tent, folding the torn piece of blanket as he walked. While he had been setting up the wire around the camp, he had periodically checked on Naruto and twice had to refresh the cloth.

After Sasuke crawled back into the tent and replaced the damp fabric underneath Naruto's head, he took his place at the edge of the small, handmade bed and slightly leaned his back against the tilting wall of the tent. His thoughts swirled around his confused mind in hazy blurs and he was unable to comprehend the meaning of any of them. Why had Naruto kissed him? Why had…Sasuke obliged? Why had Naruto pulled away and why had Sasuke craved even more? Hanging his head, Sasuke sighed and dug his hands into his hair, clutching his head in distress. This was not what he needed, thoughts like these weren't supposed to be thought! How could Naruto do this to him! How could Naruto just invade his life like this! Sasuke began massaging his temples, desperately trying to cease the oncoming headache.

_Mou hitori no boku…_A voice in the back of Sasuke purred. _I told you to leave him. He's no good for you, and you're definitely no good for him. Hate him already. Leave this tent now, while both your mind and heart are still intact. _

Sasuke squeezed his eyes shut, trying to block out the voice. _It's no good. I can't leave him—I won't. _

Anti-Naruto scoffed. _Of course you can. How is he different from anyone else? Why is it that you block everyone else out, yet welcome Naruto-chan with open arms! I always knew you were weak, but never did I think that you were as pathetic as to being influenced so easily by a person such as Naruto._

Sasuke's eyes opened slightly to catch a glimpse of the said boy fast asleep on the kakebuton and sighed. If not for that damned boy, Sasuke wouldn't have these thoughts echoing throughout his mind.

_Hate him, mou hitori no boku…_

Sasuke growled stubbornly, refusing to give in to the voice. But Anti-Naruto continued his words of detest towards the blond boy, each word spoken more dominating then the last.

_Loath his very existence…_

Sasuke once again squeezed his eyes shut, willing the voice to disappear from the midst of his jumbled thoughts. The voice ignored his cerebral protests.

_Abhorred his being as everyone else does…_

Sasuke felt his hands clench into the disarray of his hair, the silky black strands falling through his pale fingers.

_It's so easy to just hate and you know it…_

Sasuke could feel his body shaking, his fingers trembling. He desperately needed to gather his thoughts, yet Anti-Naruto refused to let him and continued trying to coax the young Uchiha into hating his blond friend.

_Hate him, mou hitori no boku, hate him…_

Sighing, Sasuke released his hold on his head and relaxed his shoulders, slightly leaning back on the wall of the tent. His eyes had opened yet again, but were lazily half-lidded. He could feel them slowly beginning to close completely and fought to keep his eyes open as he stared at Naruto. He couldn't do it. He just couldn't do it. He couldn't hate Naruto, and that was that. Anti-Naruto seemed to sense this and sneered at him. He began to berate Sasuke for being so easily subjective and inclined towards a person, yet Sasuke ignored him, shrugging the insults off. Hating Naruto was something he couldn't do – whether he wanted to or not. He had learned from experience years earlier that hating the cheerful, sunny boy was out of the question.

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A week after Naruto had fallen from the tree and nearly died, he was completely healed. Almost every bone in his small body which had been crushed from the plummet had mysteriously been adjoined and reattached together again. For only seven days was a cast placed on his body to slowly connect the ruptured bones once more, yet after only five days was Naruto ready to take the fiberglass and plaster off. His bones had healed on their own and his body had completely repaired itself. Cuts had mended and bruises had disappeared. The man who doctored Naruto knew immediately the cause for the sudden health, but Sasuke was baffled. He had never known someone to be so badly hurt and heal so quickly.

Even through his confusion and worry, Sasuke was excited. He and Naruto had been separated for so long, that he couldn't wait to see the boy again – without the bandages. But as soon as Naruto regained his health, he began ignoring Sasuke completely. Sasuke was stunned – this wasn't what he'd been expecting. After a few days of getting over the initial shock, Sasuke decided he was going to confront Naruto himself; usually the blond boy was always the first to approach Sasuke. The next day, Sasuke advanced on Naruto, demanding a reason for why he was being ignored. Naruto only stared at him with a blank look on his face. Sasuke thought he was playing dumb and grew even angrier at his friend. For weeks, the two didn't speak to each other – Sasuke's Uchiha pride refusing to let him speak to Naruto and Naruto for reasons unknown.

But Naruto's reasons for avoiding the youngest Uchiha became evident soon after the tree incident. It was a simple reason – it hit Sasuke like a ton of bricks; literally.

Naruto had amnesia.

Sasuke wouldn't have believed this if he hadn't heard it with his own ears. The man who had treated Naruto told him that Naruto had lost his memory because of the fall, and he would never remember anything that happened prior to that. Naruto's whole life had been erased from his young mind, his memories wiped clean. He had to start over from the very beginning. Things that he had already learned, like talking and walking, he remembered quickly. But events that actually happened during the short seven years of his life could never be repeated again. They were forever lost.

_But he's remembering, my dear Sasuke…_ the voice cooed. _He's remembering that wretched woman who locked him up so many years ago. Consider yourself lucky – he thinks it nothing more than a dream…_

_I need to tell him…he needs to know. He needs to know that seven years of his life are missing from his memory._ Sasuke told the voice. The voice sneered at him.

_He needs to know nothing. You are a selfish boy, mou hitori no boku, to force that memory on someone so fragile. Naruto-kun killed that woman, and he was blessed enough to have been rid of that memory. It would tear him apart to know the truth. You would really break that boy only to clear your conscience? You are indeed selfish, mou hitori no boku…_

Sasuke stared down at the sleeping figure in front of him, remorse pouring through his entire being. Naruto's spirit had been shattered so many times; over and over again without ever fully repairing itself. And no matter how much Sasuke regretted it, he had played a major part in breaking Naruto as well. He leaned his head back and squeezed his eyes shut at his muse's words as they echoed in his mind. He knew them to be true – he had known how selfish he was after Naruto had first lost his memory, seven years ago.

The fact that Naruto had lost so much had been driving Sasuke insane. He had convinced himself that it was his fault that Naruto nearly died and was literally losing his sanity over it. Whenever he looked at Naruto he could feel his heart gradually shattering into many pieces, the small remaining fragments like diminutive knives tearing into his soul, acting as annoying reminders there to repeat the thoughts again and again. Very slowly, Sasuke's outlook on the world began to change. He became spiteful towards everything that played an existence in the world – especially Naruto. Though he continued to blame himself for Naruto's near-death experience, he started blaming Naruto for the thoughts constantly playing themselves over in his mind. Naruto plagued his every thought; lurked in every dark corner of his mind. The blond boy was always there in the back of his head, reminding Sasuke of what he didn't do. Sasuke hated those thoughts, and soon, he came to hate Naruto as well. He hated anything that had to do with Naruto, since everything in his life had everything to do with him. Naruto became crucial in his life. If he didn't have the blond boy to hate, he would begin hating himself once more.

Sasuke had done everything he could to hurt the younger boy. He wanted to make Naruto hurt as much as he was hurting, but Sasuke knew that if he made Naruto hurt again, he would only keep hating him and himself, which made him even angrier. Soon, the two boys entered the ninja academy, which made Sasuke a little less hostile towards Naruto. In the academy, there were more people to hate and blame for thing, yet Sasuke could never completely rid Naruto of his thoughts, no matter how much he tried to.

Naruto soon noticed Sasuke's enmity and hatred towards him, and seemed disturbed for a while. In the beginning, when Sasuke still adored Naruto, he had tried to rekindle their friendship. They became close once more, but were still far from what they once were, much to Sasuke's chagrin. It was then, when he realized that things had changed and couldn't be restored, that his hatred and loathing was directed from himself and towards Naruto. It was _his_ fault that things had changed; _his_ fault that things couldn't go back; _his_ fault that they would never be such good friends; _his_ fault; _all his fault_. And Sasuke knew it, and so he blamed as such.

It was all _Naruto's_ fault. And that was that.

Life was good for Sasuke. As long as he had Naruto to hate, he was happy. As long as he had Naruto to blame and take the blame, he was happy. As long as he had Naruto to glare at and make him feel superior, he was happy. As long as he had Naruto, he was happy. And that's when Sasuke realized something else – something else that would once again change his outlook on the world.

Naruto made him happy. Everything about the sunny blond boy made him happy. And that was that.

Life got better for Sasuke. He stopped blaming and hating Naruto, and directed those feelings towards everyone else to spare room for feelings that he wanted to save for Naruto. He wanted to fix things between them – to repair the damage done and mend the rift that made its way among them. He wanted to be around Naruto, to be his friend once more. He knew that Naruto would never give him the chance to get that close again, but Sasuke wanted to be happy again. He was tired of being spiteful, and wanted to yet again feel contentment spread through his body instead of disorder. He knew that by making Naruto happy, he would be happy as well. That's what friend do – they make each other happy so they can frolic in their own happy state of mind. And that's what Sasuke wanted – to see Naruto happy so he himself could feel happy.

He tried. Many times, did he go out of his way to bring a smile to the blond, yet each attempt was killed. Naruto wouldn't let Sasuke near him and every time the two crossed paths, Naruto would quickly turn and walk the other way, away from the Uchiha. It had upset Sasuke immensely. Damn.

But after trying to force his way back into Naruto's life, Sasuke realized that this strategy wasn't working and was probably causing more internal damage than fixing it. The rift between them was only growing more with each attempt. Realizing this, Sasuke stopped and decided to leave Naruto alone. If anything, it would at least give the boy peace. If that was all Sasuke could give him, he would gladly do so. He would do anything for Naruto.

But fate would not allow Sasuke to be content with life. As soon as life became calm once more, Sasuke's world was shaken abruptly. He was never expecting what came next, and would forever blame himself for it.

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Class had just gotten out for the afternoon and the academy students were piling out of the classrooms, pushing and shoving their way to the giant lunch room. Sasuke, however, was calmly walking outdoors, slowly making his way to the ladder that would take him to the roof of the academy. That was his special place that he used to eat alone (after Naruto forgot about him, he began eating and walking alone) and to think. He thought a lot after the accident – mainly about whether he should detest Naruto or not.

He was already eating his lunch atop the school's room when he glanced down and saw a flash of orange. He put down the gouza he'd been nibbling at and peered over the edge. It was Naruto. He was sitting at an outside table next to the tree with the swing tied to a limb; he was alone, writing something. Sasuke smiled softly and began to climb down the ladder when Naruto suddenly grabbed the paper he was writing on, crumbled it into a paper wad, and threw it into a small wastebasket. Sasuke, curious, jumped the last few steps of the ladder and landed gracefully on the soft earth. He strode over to the wastebasket Naruto had used to discard the crumpled paper and, making sure that no one was around to see him, quickly reached in and grabbed it. Once he vigorously washed his hands in a nearby fountain (Uchihas aren't supposed to reach in wastebaskets for anything – but Sasuke's situation was an exception), he unwrapped the paper in his hands and began reading the first sentence of Naruto's scribbled handwriting. Once he read through what was written, he nearly dropped the paper.

It was a will. Naruto was writing out a will. It even had his and Iruka's signature at the bottom.

Sasuke felt his jaw drop as he scanned over the crinkled paper once more. Was Naruto really this certain of his death? Sasuke felt his face crumble at the thought. The blond boy had every reason to think of death so early. He had very little to offer, but he was already planning on giving it all away to the few people who had loved him. Most of his belongings were written out to Iruka – that man was like a father to Naruto – and few other's name were on the paper as well, but Sasuke could feel his heart wrench into a knot of anguish at the sight of his name—

—or lack thereof.

Sasuke's name was nowhere to be found on the sheet. But what had he been expecting? For all Naruto could remember, Sasuke had been nothing but horrible to him. Again, Sasuke felt his insides churn at the realization. Before he knew what had happened, he was on his knees, clenching at his stomach in a feeble attempt to keep the lurching inside at bay. His efforts were in vain as his stomach gave one final painful tug and emptied the little amount of gouza that was inside of it. Sasuke gagged as he glared at the paper, as if it wrote itself. Once his coughs finally ceased, he sat back on his heels, clenching the paper in his fist, and tore it to shreds.

It was then that Sasuke made a vow to himself. Never again would have to see another paper like that written by Naruto. Never again would Naruto be ready for, or expect, his death. Sasuke would make sure of it.

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Sasuke was practically giddy (remember, Uchihas are never giddy, but Sasuke was as close to giddy as his Uchiha-ness would allow him to get) when he was paired up with Naruto in Team 7. Of course, that annoying pink-headed ditz Sakura was in their group as well, but over the time the team had spent together, Sasuke had eventually learned to deal with her. He would never admit to anyone, much less her, but he thought her competent to be a ninja and was glad to have her as part of his team. Especially when it came to brains over bronze – damn, that girl is smart. Naruto was much more for the bronze bit, and Sasuke was a bit of both. Yay.

Before the team had set out on actual missions as Genin, Sasuke had made yet another silent vow to himself – he would get as close to Naruto as was allowed without forcing their broken friendship by any means necessary. He would fix their rift one day. Sasuke had long since broken Naruto, and would go to any lengths to repair the fragile boy.

Ever since the team had started on their missions, Sasuke was always looking out for Naruto; always watching him out of the corner of his eye to make sure the dobe was staying out of trouble. Whether it be pulling psychotic cats off of him or catching him from falling, Sasuke was there for him. Whether it be walking a few steps ahead of him just to make sure that no one was planning on lunging out to attack him or saving him from homicidal nin that thrived on killing him, Sasuke was there for him. To him, Naruto was just too important to loose. He wouldn't let anything take Naruto. If he didn't have the sunny blond boy, those emotions that Sasuke had been saving up just for him would go to waste – no more happiness, no more hatred, no more emotions. Sasuke soon felt more attached to Naruto than anything else; he became essential to living for Sasuke – like air. Otherwise, Sasuke would just be numb; to everything.

Protecting Naruto was a full-time job. Sasuke was constantly jumping out of 50ft trees just to catch Naruto before he hit the ground. He was constantly watching both Naruto's back and front (no pun intended) for rabid Water nin or crazy sand demons. Either events happening to a person were highly unlikely, yet everything seemed possible around Naruto. It kept Sasuke busy and on a constant Naruto-induced high, so to speak.

But Sasuke was obliged for the peace of mind that was rewarded whenever he saved Naruto's life. He knew – whether Naruto said so or not – that Naruto was always grateful whenever Sasuke bothered saving his life. Who wouldn't be? But unlike anyone else, Naruto never verbally portrayed his thanks. Sasuke had never once heard Naruto say, 'Thank you' to him again after the accident. But it wasn't needed. Sasuke was getting closer to Naruto and couldn't be happier. He wanted nothing more than to have his best friend back. He'd missed having anything even remotely resemble a friend for a long time, though he would never admit that to anyone.

Sasuke sighed, still staring at Naruto, confusion and doubt swirling in the midst of his thoughts. He was back where he started – should he tell Naruto about the accident, or not? For seven years, now, that thought had been haunting him, taunting him, making his hatred for Naruto grow even stronger. He shrugged and rested his head against the fabric of the tent. He could always tell him later, once he'd come to a decision.

Sasuke's ears perked up at the sound of whimpering. Lowering his eyes so they were level with Naruto's closed ones, he straightened at the sight of Naruto withering in some unknown pain. His face was pale, which was saying a lot since Naruto's skin was extremely tanned, and he had broken out into a cold sweat. Sasuke leaned over the whimpering blond, eyeing his shivering body covered by blankets. He instinctively reached out and placed a hand atop Naruto's bare forehead, feeling for an irregular temperature. Sasuke sighed in relief when he felt normal warmth under his palm, though the skin was clammy.

_He must only be having a nightmare…_ Sasuke thought with relief. He was about to remove his hand when he noticed Naruto's change at the slight touch. He was no longer whimpering and his shivering ceased. Sasuke smiled gently and rested his hand over Naruto's damp forehead once more.

Leaning back into a more comfortable position, Sasuke closed his eyes and let his thoughts wander, not noticing his thumb idly massaging circles into Naruto's skin. He did notice, however, the color returning to Naruto's cheeks. A faint, sleep-induced blush settled across Naruto's cheekbones, adding even more color to his face. A small smile danced its way across Sasuke's thin lips as his hand made tantalizing, feather-light trails across Naruto's unconscious face, stopping only to caress Naruto's pink lips ever so slightly. Suddenly, acting on a whim to obtain the peace of mind he so desperately lusted after, Sasuke leaned over and gently brushed his lips to Naruto's.

The sudden, yet slight touch sent sparks of electricity through Sasuke's lips to the rest of his body. The jolt forced him off of Naruto's lips where he stayed, hovering just inches above the other boy's lips. His breathing had become erratic and his breaths sent stray hairs on Naruto's face wavering away. Goosebumps were overlapping each other all over Sasuke's body, his body shivering as much as Naruto's had been just moments before.

Before he could understand what his body was demanding, Sasuke was again upon Naruto's lips. His shaking hand worked its way down the side of Naruto's neck, resting on the indention of the nape of it for support. Sasuke's lips were gentle at first, not wanting anything more than just a taste, but soon became more hungry – greedy for more than a simple taste of Naruto. He slowly and hesitantly began to move his lips against Naruto's full, supple ones, eagerly taking in the taste and smell of the blond boy. All thought process left him and his sense of time and space had become skewed. Nothing mattered more than this moment – this moment he got to share with Naruto, even though the other boy was still asleep. His hand had liberally moved from the nape of Naruto's neck and was trailing down his shoulder, taking in as much of him as he could at once. Their lips matched like puzzle pieces – as Sasuke moved his lips against Naruto's, they fit into his perfectly, especially when he tilted his head to this side like this…

As Sasuke grew more comfortable with the kiss, he also grew hungrier. Sense of what was right and wrong was wiped from his mind; all knowledge of limits and boundaries gone as he gently released his tongue to have an extra taste. The wet muscle slid enticingly over Naruto's bottom lip, his teeth giving it a small nip for extra pleasure. It wasn't until his hand finally reached Naruto's hand under the blankets and began to intertwine their fingers together that Sasuke realized he wasn't breathing. At this thought, his body suddenly rejected the kiss and begged for air. Sasuke involuntarily freed his lips from Naruto's and dragged himself upwards, away from Naruto's lips and face so he wouldn't be tempted to kiss him again while he was still dangerously breathless.

But as Sasuke breathed in the fresh air his lungs screamed for, his mind also seemed to rejuvenate itself. Sense and thought appeared as suddenly as they had left him. Right and wrong made more sense and he could tell the difference between the two now that he was away from Naruto's smell and taste.

He quickly scooted away from the sleeping figure as far as the tent would let him, breathing heavily.

_That…didn't just happen…_ Sasuke thought between breaths. _Oh god, that was…terrible…repulsive…disgusting…But god, was it good…_ Sasuke hesitantly licked his lips, eyeing the small, lingering bit of saliva shimmering on Naruto's pink, swollen lips. A small smile spread over Sasuke's lips as he leaned over once more, placing a hand on the other side of Naruto's body, ready to steady himself if needed. As he slowly started edging closer to Naruto's lips, ready to lick the remaining traces of their kiss away, his body went rigid – mental sirens going off inside his head. Apparently, his conscience would let a kiss to slip when he didn't know what he was doing, but when he _was_ aware of kissing Naruto, his conscience just wouldn't allow it. Sasuke slowly sat back, folding his arms across his chest as if to restrain them from any more impulsive actions.

He couldn't believe what was happening. Kissing Naruto was asking for too much. All Sasuke wanted – all he could ask for – was for Naruto to accept him. That's it. _But god, does that saliva look tempting right now…_

Sasuke felt himself blush and shook his head violently, trying to rid himself of those vile thoughts. _No! No more of those thoughts! No more homosexually deviant ideas! No more! Naruto…is just a friend, to say the least…he would never want me like that…And even if he did…No! We're both guys, anyway! He would never want me like…that…_ Sasuke felt his blush grow deeper and bowed his head, desperately trying to make sense of the thoughts muddled inside his mind.

As Sasuke became lost in his thoughts, he lost sense of reality as was surprised to feel something shaking his elbow gently. Raising his head, his eyes widened when they were met with the dulled with sleep, cerulean eyes. He felt his chest tighten at the mere memory of moments ago. Strange feelings fluttered throughout his body as those huge, blue, innocent eyes peered up at him curiously.

"…Sasuke?" Naruto muttered sleepily. Sasuke closed contently his eyes as the endearing sound reached his ears.

Opening his eyes and looking down at Naruto, Sasuke felt a genuine smile flutter momentarily across his face. Naruto must've seen in – his face calmed down and took on more of a peaceful look. Sasuke felt more emotions added to the mix. All he wanted was for Naruto to be at peace. He finally got what he wanted – even if it was just for right now, seeing that look on Naruto's face was enough for Sasuke.

It was then that he knew that things would be okay.

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**A/N:** Hey people, long time no see! ...Or whatever... I'm so sorry about the delay in this update. I've only just now gotten access to a computer...but I know, no excuses! I'm sorry. But seriously, did I really write all of that sickening fluff? And I wonder if any of you could tell that this was my first time writing a kiss scene that was Sasuke's POV. Usually, I write from Naruto's POV. So it was weird trying to make a kiss be Uchiha-like...Oh well. I still hope you all liked this. Oh god, this is, what, my 20 chapter? And there's still, like, 10 more to go - at least! UGH! Again, oh well. Oh, and I decided not to dedicate this chappy to anyone but myself cuz I'm just selfish like that. No, really, this chapter means alot to me for reasons simple readers/reviewers wouldn't understand. I mean, I love all of you very smexy readers, but...anyway, I wouldn't want to take your minds off of anything besides the stroy...Again, I am selfish! So sorry...

Oh, and GUESS WHAT!

-readers say, 'WHAT?'-

One of my readers/reviewers lives in AUSTRAILIA! OMG! -spaz- I'm so happy I could cry...people on the other side of the world are reading my 'fic! Hmm, I wonder where my other readers are from...Well, it's not like that's any buisness of mine...I just think that's so cool since I'm just from Arizona...That makes me sad...

By the way, please forgive all of the grammer/spelling mistakes. I fixed them on my other computer, but I'm on the school computer right now and I'm too lazy to fix them right now. Maybe later, but I doubt it. I would get a beta to fix it, but I feel like I'm imposing on someone when I use a beta. Besides, that would take me longer to update and I know how impatient you readers can be cuz you love my story so much...right? -raises eyebrow-

Amd I also know how much you all want to review, so I'll leave you to it!


	21. Feathers and Fluff

**A/N:**  
You only hold me up like this  
Cause you don't know who I really am  
Sometimes I just want to know what it's like to be you  
We're making out inside crashed cars  
We're sleeping through all our memories  
I used to waste my time dreaming of being alive  
(now I only waste it dreaming of you)

Turn off the lights and turn off the shyness  
Cause all of our moves make up for the silence  
And oh, the way your makeup stains my pillowcase  
Like I'll never be the same

You only hold me up like this  
Cause you don't know who I really am  
I used to waste my time on  
Waste my time on  
Waste my time dreaming of being alive  
(now I only waste it dreaming of you)

Turn off the lights and turn off the shyness  
Cause all of our moves make up for the silence  
And oh, the way your makeup stains my pillowcase  
Like I'll never be the same

I've got headaches and bad luck but they couldn't touch you, no  
I've got headaches and bad luck but they couldn't touch you, no  
I'm not trying  
You only hold me up like this

Turn off the lights and turn off the shyness  
Cause all of our moves make up for the silence  
And oh, the way your makeup stains  
Like I'll never be the same

**Fall Out Boy** owns this song, not me, and I am making no profit from it whatsoever. Just don't sue me.

By the way, I decided earlier that this chapter was dedicated to **xcloudx**! She finally likes yaoi! Everyone congratulate her! –audience claps for **xcloudx**- I even made a dance for her and her new love! –dances the '**xcloudx** is finally one of us' dance-

…And yes, if your outlook on me isn't pathetic enough, I really did do a little dance when I saw that **xcloudx** liked yaoi.

**Disclaimer**: Not only do I not own the song listed above, _Of all the Gin Joints in all the World_, I also don't own the title of this chapter. **Satoshi Silver Syoran** owns _all_ rights over it _and_ the feather idea. I wasn't going to make the pillows stuffed with feathers until she brought up the idea cuz SHE JUST ROCKS LIKE THAT! –does the **Satoshi Silver Syoran** dance-

Oh, **Sato**, I dunno if I haven't already dedicated a chappy to you yet, but I'm planning to do so as soon as a very… 'loaded' chapter comes up with lots of SASU NARU ACTION! WHOO! –flails happily- -audience cheers-

Oh, and I was debating if this chapter should be based on _Of all the Gin Joints in all the_ _World_ by **Fall Out Boy** or _You Shook Me All Night Long_ by **AC/DC**. Did I make the right choice?

* * *

Chapter 21

Feathers and Fluff

Naruto stared up at Sasuke anxiously. Why was he even here? Shouldn't he have gone back to the Inn by now? Yet here he was, sleeping against the fabric of the handmade tent, head bowed. Naruto grew bored with staring at the Uchiha and decided to wake the bastard.

"Sasuke?" Naruto called, his voice cracking slightly from sleep. There was no answer. Growling impatiently, he tried again. "Sasuke!" he called louder. Still silence. Becoming frustrated very quickly, Naruto reached a hand out of the blankets coating him and placed it against the raven haired boy's arm, the cool, smooth skin sending chills down Naruto's spine. Naruto ignored the jolts vibrating through his fingertips and proceeded to shake the older boy awake.

Sasuke looked up so suddenly that Naruto was momentarily taken aback. Naruto suddenly lost his resolve at the sight of Sasuke's face. Why were worry lines etched into his forehead? He seemed so frantic – like Naruto had accidentally pulled him out of some sort of trance. Naruto swallowed the sudden, unexpected lump in his throat and stared up at Sasuke.

"Sasuke?"

Naruto couldn't help being worried about his friend in the state the he was in at the moment. He felt his voice crack and fidgeted with the blankets to distract himself. The worry he felt inside was suddenly wiped away as he saw a small, fleeting smile cross Sasuke's features. Naruto felt his body become noticeably more relaxed and offered Sasuke a grin of his own. Sasuke didn't smile back, but his eyes sparkled in the darkness.

Seconds later, Naruto thought that the short-lived display of emotions on Sasuke's face must have been some ephemeral dream or a figment of his imagination, because Sasuke had adopted that usually serious face he always wore; no smile, no flickering eyes, nothing. Naruto mentally sighed.

"Are you feeling any better?" he asked in his usual solemn tone of voice. Naruto looked away and nodded.

"That's good. You idiot, you fell backwards and hit your—"

"Why are you here?" Naruto interrupted. Sasuke gave him a questioning look, as if the answer was obvious. Naruto waited for him to answer, so Sasuke sighed.

"What do you mean, why am I here? Do you not remember me being here before you knocked yourself out? Or did the impact of the tree against your head really cause that much brain damage?" Sasuke scoffed.

"Bastard, of course I remember. You nearly kissed me!" Naruto yelled. Sasuke grew oddly quiet at these words. Naruto didn't notice as he continued ranting, using his hands to gesticulate and add more effect to his words. "What I wanna know is why you're still here! You should've left already – gone back to the Inn with Sakura-chan and Kakashi-sensei! I don't want you here so go away! You've never stayed by my side before now, so why start!"

Once Naruto had stopped his rant to catch his breath, he realized that he'd hit a nerve inside Sasuke, who became suddenly guarded, his eyes narrowing into a glare.

"What are you talking about, dobe? I dragged you here after you idiotically hit your head and passed out." At this, Sasuke caught a glimpse at a small blush forming on Naruto's face before he turned away. Sasuke grinned, but it wasn't a 'happy-go-lucky' smile at all. It was a sadistic, 'Ha I've backed you into a metaphorical corner and now I get to have my evil way with you with my words and make fun of you' kind of smile. Those were always one of Sasuke's favourite smiles. "I've been sitting here, making sure the wolves didn't get to you."

Naruto growled. "I'm not a little kid anymore, Sasuke. You can't scare me with simple stories, teme."

It was at that moment that a noise rattled in the distance somewhere, causing both Sasuke and Naruto to jump. Naruto glanced up at Sasuke and was about to glower and announce how he knew how Sasuke had planned that all along, but froze when he saw the expression on Sasuke's face. Sasuke quickly pulled a kunai from out of the pack at his thigh and quietly crawled out of the tent, face tense and body poised and ready. Looking over his shoulder, he stared at the blond and mouthed 'stay' before turning back around and vanished. Naruto watched as he disappeared into the opaque night. Naruto shivered and pulled one of the many blankets up to his chin, brows knotted together angrily. Who did Sasuke think he was? Naruto wasn't some dog that could be ordered around.

Rising to his hands, Naruto sat back on his heels, reaching for his thigh as well. A small gasp escaped his lips when he felt his kunai pack gone. Looking around for the small weapon-filled pouch, Naruto suddenly noticed his shoes and forehead protector were missing as well as his kunai. Looking down at his feet, he wriggled his toes and laughed childishly. He continued to watch his toes until he remembered about Sasuke and stuck his head out of the flap of the tent, looking around for the young Uchiha. He was nowhere in sight.

Naruto yelped when a pale face suddenly invaded his vision. Naruto sat back on his knees as he stared into the crimson eyes of the sharingan.

"Sasuke!" Naruto yelled in frustration.

"Dobe, must you be so loud?" he growled quietly. Naruto was about to say something back in his defense, but stopped when he remembered what had happened.

"What was that?" Naruto asked hesitantly.

Sasuke didn't answer at first and instead gestured Naruto into the tent again. His eyes had turned back to the cold, dark black instead of that chilling scarlet. Naruto gave Sasuke an unhappy look for pushing him around, but complied nonetheless. Once inside the tent, Naruto made to sit next to Sasuke against the tent's feeble fabric, but Sasuke gently pushed him back onto the bed. Naruto sighed at having his attempt to not be babied yet again killed. Lying down inside the blankets, he turned his deadly blue eyes to Sasuke, willing him to tell him what the hell was going on. He was still angry about their earlier conversation when Naruto first woke up and was only getting angrier at Sasuke for his delay to tell him an answer.

"Well?" Naruto pushed.

"It was just a squirrel." Sasuke shrugged, looking away from Naruto as he did so. He could almost feel Naruto's eyes narrowing in a suspicious glare directed towards him. But 'almost' only counts in two things: horseshoes and hand-grenades – neither of which situations was occurring at the moment.

"Oh really?" Naruto raised a blond eyebrow.

"Yeah."

"A squirrel?"

Sasuke nodded. Naruto snorted and his 'I don't believe you and I know you're lying' glared turned into an 'Aha I knew you were lying so admit it before I force the answer out of you using a mix between Chinese Water Torture and a pipe cleaner' glare.

"Since when do squirrels make a ringing sound?" Naruto asked obnoxiously. Sasuke turned back around to face the blond, his face unreadable.

"A ringing sound?" he inquired.

"Yeah, a ringing sound. Like a bell." Naruto grinned as Sasuke turned away again.

"It was…a trap," Sasuke replied simply.

"A trap?" The grin faded from Naruto's pink lips. Sasuke winced as urges forced their way into his mind, his Anti-Naruto conscience rejecting every one of them before they could be formed into ideas that his host might act on. Pro-Naruto was tied and gagged behind him. "What's a trap doing out here?" he continued, oblivious to Sasuke's internal tumult.

"I set it while you were still asleep. I tied wire about 20 feet around this opening and attached bells to the ends. Now we'll know if someone happens to intrude on us…" Sasuke said, still refusing to look at Naruto.

Naruto felt his face crumble. Suddenly, he'd forgotten why he'd been angry earlier. It didn't matter anymore. He turned on his other side to face the empty space unoccupied by Sasuke. Why had Sasuke bothered to set up an alarm system, no matter how primitive? In fact…Naruto began to ponder why Sasuke had bothered doing anything for him. Not very many people would stay up for the night taking care of Naruto. Naruto sighed, not liking the position he was in. Turning back to the Uchiha, he offered a smile. The least he could go to repay Sasuke for taking care of him was to be friendly.

"Here…" Naruto said, moving over to the side of the kakebuton and pulling the blankets back, revealing the plush, ivory covering of the kakebuton. Sasuke turned his attention back to Naruto and gave him a questioning look. Naruto sighed.

"Look, if you're not going to go back to the Inn with Sakura-chan, you might as well have a place to sleep. So get in before I change my mind…" Naruto grumbled. He winced when he saw Sasuke's eye twitch.

"Dobe…" he muttered under his breath. "There is no way I'm sleeping in the same bed as you…"

Naruto snorted. "You will if you want a place to sleep."

"I don't need to sleep." Sasuke growled.

"So, what, you'll stay up for the rest of the night? I remember right, you were asleep just a little while ago, so that's big talk coming from a guy who had to be shaken awake!" Naruto smirked. He knew he had the upper hand. Why he wanted to win this battle so badly was a mystery to him; but a battle was a battle and he was going to win.

"Naruto, I wasn't asleep. I was lost in thought when you shook me," Sasuke tried to explain with no avail. Naruto was determined to win this argument.

"Were you angsting about your life again?" Naruto teased. His impish smile widened when he saw Sasuke's pale face flush a bit.

"Excuse me…?" Sasuke's eyes narrowed as he stared at the grinning blond boy.

"Well, if not that, then what else had your oh-so-superior Uchiha mind occupied? Certainly not little old me…" Naruto laughed. It was always so much fun mocking Sasuke. The boy needed to be brought down a few notches on the superiority chart and Naruto was always there to help him with that.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed even further. "What do my thoughts matter to you? You hardly think at all."

Naruto's smile faltered. "Well, you think too much…"

Knowing that this conversation was going nowhere, Naruto turned over on his side, sighing. Suddenly, he felt a weight by his side that wasn't there before. Turning his head to see the abrupt intrusion, he was surprised to see the pale face of Sasuke next to his own.

"Ah…!" Naruto, who hadn't been expecting the encounter, tried to restrain a blush. "I thought you were going to be your usual, annoying as hell self. What happened to being stubborn?" Naruto muttered, trying to add a suspicious tone to his voice. It didn't seem to work – Sasuke only gave a slight grin.

"I changed my mind…" Sasuke replied simply.

Naruto felt his eye twitch at the answer. "That's such a Sasuke answer…I should've known. Whatever."

Naruto turned back over on his side, but could still hear Sasuke say, "And that's such a Naruto answer…" Naruto growled half heartedly as Sasuke undid the straps to his shoes and untied his forehead protector. He placed them next to Naruto's and laid back. Naruto felt the kakebuton dip under the extra weight and moved over a little more, trying to put as much space between him and Sasuke as was allowed. Sasuke seemed to notice as Naruto felt him roll over on his side, his back facing Naruto. Naruto shifted his head slightly to stare at it, eye still twitching.

"Damn Uchiha…" Naruto muttered under his breath.

"Stupid Uzumaki…"

Naruto rolled back on to his side opposite Sasuke's and closed his eyes, smiling.

* * *

Sasuke had waited what seemed like hours for sleep to have its way with him, yet it never bothered to take him. He could only guess the reason as the boy beside him began to squirm around. Sasuke stifled an annoyed growl. Why couldn't the damned blond nin just fall asleep already? If sleep were to posses Naruto, then surly it would claim Sasuke as well. But Naruto continued to move around, their bodies only just inches apart. Sasuke felt the hairs on the back of his neck raise as Naruto's leg brushed against his own.

_Hello, Sasuke,_ a voice said in his ear. _I would like to introduce myself. My name is Mr. H. ormone. I'm here to ruin your life and cause you to embarrass yourself in front of the people you really don't want to – such as Uzumaki-chan. Your life will never be the same now that I'm here…_

_Why must every voice in my head torture and plot against me?_ Sasuke growled mentally. Mr. H. ormone gave an indifferent shrug.

_Sorry, kid,_ it said, _but you've been neglecting me for too long now. Get ready to become a blundering idiot who blushes all the time and looses the capability to form comprehendible sentences around those special people._

_Are you kidding me_…? Sasuke sighed. Naruto's fidgeting stopped at the sound.

_Nope. From here on out, Mr. P. enis and I will be plotting against you until the very end. You see, he plays a part in this whole teenage romance thing as well,_ the voice informed him. Sasuke mentally begged the voice to go away, but it remained. _Well, you've been forewarned. Beware awaking us again in fear of loosing your reputation…_

Sasuke shivered at the now-faint voice's words. As Naruto began to kick around again, he knew that Mr. H. ormone wouldn't be given a chance to sleep. Sasuke closed his eyes, willing his body and mind to sleep. Minutes ticked by, each feeling like its own eternity to Sasuke. As soon as the first wave of drowsiness began to take its toll on his mind, a voice roused him awake again, the strange feelings from before which had been dimming with sleep were now hitting him wave after wave, each bout fiercer and demanding than the last.

"Sasuke…?"

Sasuke was extremely pissy at the moment. He was pissy for many reasons, one of which being that he couldn't get to sleep. Another reason was that once he almost finally got to sleep, his peaceful state just had to be interrupted. Another, more loathed reason was such effect hearing Naruto say his name had on him. It was all quite irritating and Sasuke felt that he couldn't be blamed for not responding.

"Psst! Sasuke – hey!" he heard Naruto call.

…

"Are you asleep yet?" Naruto asked as he nudged the back of Sasuke's leg with his toe. Again, chills were crawling up his spine at the touch.

"What is it, Naruto!" Sasuke said through ground teeth, each word spoken with deliberation. He regretted being so forceful almost immediately; he could practically feel the pout on Naruto's face. Maybe he shouldn't have been so harsh… Sasuke shook off the thought instantly. He was still pissed about his lack of sleep. Uchihas liked their sleep.

Naruto still hadn't answered. Sasuke sighed.

"What?" he asked more gently as he sneaked a quick glance over his shoulder to peek at the blond. Naruto turned over on his other side as well, his dazzling cerulean eyes now turned upon Sasuke. Sasuke quickly looked away again before the full effect of those eyes left him as a speechless, blundering, blushing idiot. Somewhere in his lower abdomen, Mr. H. ormone snickered.

"I can't sleep…" Naruto mumbled helplessly.

Sasuke felt his eye twitch. Damn eye. "Well _I_ can."

Naruto whimpered and began kicking his legs towards Sasuke furiously. Sasuke stiffened with each kick and tried to scoot away from the flailing nin, but Naruto only kicked harder.

"Don't fall asleep without me!" he whined.

"Fine." Sasuke sighed, defeated. He would do anything to stop Naruto from kicking him. As he wished, Naruto's kicking ceased, but Sasuke was totally thrown off by his next comment.

"There's so much more we could do instead of sleep, anyway!" Naruto said in his usual, hyped cheery voice.

Sasuke froze, unable to comprehend the meaning of Naruto's words. He wanted to ask Naruto what he meant (more like what the hell was wrong with him) but his hormones screamed 'OH YESS-SS-SS!' while his conscience screamed 'OH NOO-OO-OO!' – making him confused. Why the hell did it sound like Kool-Aid men were fighting in his mind? Stupid hormones. Stupid conscience. Stupid Kool-Aid man.

"What do you have to say, Sasuke? I don't want to sleep right now…" Naruto continued, not realizing the effect his words were having on the said boy.

Sasuke gulped. 'What did he have to say?' Naruto had asked. 'WHAT DID HE HAVE TO SAY!' Is that all Naruto had to say after proposing such a strange and not-homosexually-suggestive-at-all idea? Well, not that Naruto would ever know, but after Naruto's words, Sasuke's vocabulary had been reduced to cute and simple words such as 'Oh yes…' and 'Oh no…' and 'nipple.' Those three simple words were cluttering his brain, refusing to allow him to think properly. So aside from, 'Oh yes…' and 'Oh no…' and 'nipple.', Sasuke said the only thing he could say without making a complete idiot out of himself.

"What…!"

_Oh yeah, that's smooth, Sasuke…_ his inner sense congratulated. _Way to keep your cool… You don't look like an idiot whatsoever. But before you turn around to face him, I suggest you get that blush off your face._

Sasuke took a deep breath and did as he was advised. Once he felt the heat finally dying from his cheekbones, he turned around to face Naruto to be blown away by the sight of—

—a pillow.

—in his line of vision.

—landing on his face with a muffled '_thuwmp'_.

—and that chillingly obnoxious, yet adorable laugh afterwards.

There, the pillow stayed. Sasuke could almost hear the pillow laughing at him. 'Feel the wrath of my squishy and fluffy EVIL and prepare to DIE!' it mocked. Sasuke glared at it from the squishy confines and bit it. Suddenly, he felt something very…tingly being shoved up his left nostril. What the hell…?

As Naruto pulled the pillow away from the Uchiha's face and reeled his arm back to smack him again, he stopped mid-attack. His face had gone from sadistic to shock in seconds. Suddenly, he broke out in a grin and began laughing at Sasuke, a finger pointing in his direction to complete the look of a bumpkin laughing hysterically. Sasuke's eyes narrowed into a glare as he stared at the laughing boy. Uchihas didn't like being laughed at whatsoever.

"…What?" Sasuke asked with an offended edge to his voice. Naruto, however, continued to laugh and point rudely. Sasuke glowered.

"Y-y-you…you're…aha, you're n-nose!" Naruto managed to say in between his laughter. Sasuke glowered still. Uchihas had very beautiful noses, he thought, just like every other part of their bodies. They also didn't like having people point and laugh at them, either.

"You're…making fun of me?" Sasuke growled, stating it more as a fact than a question. He tried to snort when Naruto didn't answer, but felt that damned tingling feeling near his nose once more. Naruto gulped in fresh air as the air in his lungs expired and leaned over to Sasuke. Sasuke stiffened as Naruto's face filled his vision inch by inch. Suddenly, he felt Naruto's warm breath blow over him, the sweet scents of the blond overtaking him. Naruto pursed his lips together and blew gently on Sasuke's face again, laughing as he did so. Sasuke closed his eyes, the aroma dizzying. When he opened his eyes, something white flickered past his vision. He heard Naruto laughing at him again as he reached out to Sasuke's face, his fingers just barely touching Sasuke's face in a tantalizing motion. When he withdrew his hand, Sasuke's eyes followed it, longing for his touch (his conscience hissed at him disapprovingly). Clenched in one of his smaller hands was a white feather. Sasuke stared at it.

"…That's what you were laughing at?" Sasuke asked incredulously.

Naruto grinned foolishly. "Well, that and your feminine looks."

As Naruto laughed at Sasuke's mockery, he suddenly felt his head bombarded with something soft and squishy. He was knocked over, landing roughly on the kakebuton. Looking at Sasuke, he grinned when he saw a pillow in his hand, multiple random feathers fluttering about.

"Take that back." He demanded, his voice deadly. Naruto's foxy grin widened, his eyes gleaming dangerously.

"Make me." He challenged, a wide grin plastered to his face. Before he knew what had happened, he was on the kakebuton, Sasuke holding him down by the shoulder. A pillow was in his hand and the sparkle in his eye looked sadistically menacing. Naruto gulped loudly, but his grin stayed. Sasuke broke out into a rare grin as well as he reeled his arm back and began attacking Naruto with it. He could hear Naruto's muffled laughter penetrating the pillow. Suddenly, a pillow flew up from his side and hit him in the head, knocking him off of Naruto. Naruto took that chance to start his own onslaught of pillowy fluffiness, but that chance was soon lost as Sasuke sat up and blocked Naruto's pillow with his own.

Naruto was soon blinded by white feathers. Apparently, these pillows weren't made for intense battle, but both boys chose to ignore that obvious fact as the pillow fight continued.

"YAARR!" Naruto's battle cry echoed through the dark forest. He flung the pillow in Sasuke's direction, but Sasuke's hand flew out and trapped Naruto's wrist within the confines of his long, pale fingers. Naruto began to struggle, trying to pry his wrist from Sasuke's clamped hand, but was distracted by the pillow flying in his direction.

"That—that's cheating…bastard!" Naruto yelled trying to avoid the white mass in Sasuke's other hand. Sasuke's grin widened as he leaned in close to Naruto. The blond froze, feeling Sasuke's lips next to his ear, and shuddered as the warm breath passes over his neck, ruffling his blond strands of hair. Goosebumps chilled his body as Sasuke leaned close still, his lips just barely touching his earlobe.

"What about it, dobe?" he whispered so tantalizingly close.

Naruto's breath hitched as Sasuke closed the space between them. Suddenly, working on its own will, Naruto's arm was raised and the pillow in his hand was whacked into Sasuke's head, forcing the Uchiha back.

"Argh!" Sasuke grunted as the pillow plowed into his head. When he regained his balance on his knees, he stared at Naruto and swung the pillow at him. Naruto, however, dropped his own pillow and, with his now free hand, grabbed Sasuke's pillow only inches from his face. As Sasuke tried to pull back, a loud ripping noise filled the small tent.

While Sasuke and Naruto stared at each other, eyes wide, thousands of small white swan feathers, all raining down on them. The feathers littered the ground of the tent, invading the bed and covering the two boys. Sasuke looked around at the now-blindingly white surrounding and sneezed as hundreds of feathers violated his face. The moment he took to tear his attention from Naruto was his downfall. Naruto attacked Sasuke's feathered head and knocked him over. He pounced on top of the older boy and began attacking him furiously, laughing all the while.

"Na-Naru…to! Naruto!" Sasuke called out trying to block the bombardment of feathers and fabric. He was choking on feathers!

Naruto couldn't hear Sasuke's demands over his own laughter and continued his flurry of pillow-ness. Sasuke, desperate for air that was clean of feathers, grabbed at Naruto's pillow and yet another ripping sound echoed in their ears. The white pillow began tearing at its seams, its feathery insides pouring out of it in a feathery cascade. Naruto watched t for a moment, but shrugged once the case was empty and tossed it aside.

The blond boy sat back, grinning wildly, and pumped his fists into the air triumphantly. Sasuke, however, crossed both his arms and legs, annoyed. _Here it comes…_ he thought with an air of doom.

"Ha! I knew I'd win! Take that, Sasuke, you _girly_ man! I knew you wouldn't win!" Naruto yelled in a victoriously obnoxious tone. Sasuke felt his eye twitch.

"Whatever, dobe…" Sasuke muttered.

Naruto continued to squirm around jubilantly, as if some kind of freaky tribal dance, laughing and congratulating himself. He toed Sasuke's thigh victoriously. Sasuke moved away uncomfortably.

"Stoppit," he said bluntly, trying to edge away from the offending toe.

Naruto grinned devilishly. "Why?" he asked obnoxiously, toeing Sasuke's thigh harder. "Is the great Uchiha ticklish?"

"No, not ticklish," he mumbled gruffly. "Just…sensitive, that's all…"

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Suurre you are, Sasuke."

Naruto continued to prod higher up Sasuke's thigh, trying desperately to get more of a response than having his foot shoved away. Sasuke flushed and again tried to retreat from the felonious foot. He was pissed again. Uchihas didn't like being tickled. Stupid Naruto. His thigh tingled in a 'Ha ha I'm such a ticklish spot' kind of way. Sasuke glared at it. Stupid thigh. When Naruto's incessant prodding ceased, his next action hit Sasuke like a ton of bricks. Literally.

"KYAAH!" Naruto yelled as he tackled Sasuke. Before Sasuke could comprehend what was going on, Naruto was on top of him, straddling his legs and grinning playfully, one hand pinning Sasuke's shoulder down while the other began grabbing at his shirt. Sasuke's eyes widened. What the hell? Rape! Rape!

But it was worse than rape – so much worse than rape. It was worse than death! Naruto was— Naruto was—!

—Tickling him. Tickling the hell out of him, to be precise. With his shirt yanked up to his chin, Sasuke was desperately trying not to laugh. He felt Naruto's hands wandering up and down his sides, pinching in places that were making his skin crawl. In an act of defending his pride, wriggle out from Naruto enough so his left arm was free and pushed Naruto off of him. Naruto fell backwards off of Sasuke and onto the kakebuton.

Smirking, Sasuke pounced. Naruto let out a small squeal as Sasuke hastily pinned him down – his knees pinning Naruto's legs and his hands at his shoulders. He began unzipping the front of Naruto's orange jumper, savoring every moment as the pull tab slowly slid down the chain. Suddenly he stopped, only just now realizing what he was doing and what it must have looked like to an outsider. But he didn't care – revenge was revenge and he was going to get his. No one tickles Uchiha Sasuke and gets away with it.

As soon as the zipper came undone and Naruto's flailing arms were finally forced out of it, he lifted up Naruto's black undershirt and stared at the tanned stomach toned with days on end of training. He smoothed his hand over it, allowing his pinky to wander into the dip of Naruto's navel. It was only when he felt the blond underneath him shudder that he remembered he was on a mission. He released Naruto's shoulder to use both hands for this task. Naruto tried to sit up now that he had both arms free, but he wasn't given enough time as Sasuke began his mindless tickling rampage.

Naruto felt tears come to his eyes as the laughter overtook him. His body flailed around uselessly in an attempt to escape the wandering, feather light touches caressing the sides of his torso. He could feel the soft feathers cushioning both his and Sasuke's weight, random plumes taking flight in the air around them. Naruto's vision was colored white as the feathers filled his surroundings, oblivious to Naruto's pain.

After a few more moments of Sasuke being on top, Naruto had managed to nudge his right leg out from under Sasuke leg hold and managed to reverse the position once more.

"You…bastard…" Naruto laughed out, giving the Uchiha under him a halfhearted glare. Since Naruto had never been one to quite master the delicate art of glaring, his glare turned out as more of a pout than anything.

Naruto was too exhausted from the tickle-fest to try tickling Sasuke anymore than he had. Griping his twisted stomach, he leaned forward, collapsing on top of Sasuke. Looking away from Sasuke, Naruto desperately tried to regain his normal breathing patterns. He didn't want people seeing him all breathless and blushy blushy-like – especially Sasuke. His face was flushed and seemed out of place against Sasuke's pale complexion.

Sighing happily, Naruto was finally able to control the color of his face when he felt warm arms warp around his waist. He felt his blush return when Sasuke pulled him close in a tight embrace. Feeling all sense die away completely, Naruto allowed his primal instincts to take over and pressed him cheek against Sasuke's bare chest – the shirt still up to his chin where Naruto had left it. He felt the sweet warmth radiating off of Sasuke and onto him. Sitting up so he was straddling Sasuke's hips, Naruto stared down at him and grinned. He never thought he'd see Uchiha Sasuke with white hair.

From the two boys' movements, feathers had splayed everywhere; up Sasuke's shirt, in Naruto's collar, both their faces dotted with feathers, but the most dramatic change was the feathers in Sasuke's midnight black hair. It was white and furry, like some odd white afro. Naruto laughed again, but winced when his stomach protested from too much laughter.

Suddenly, he felt a soft hand on his cheek. Looking down, he saw Sasuke staring back up at him, his palm still resting on Naruto's cheek. Reaching his own hand towards Sasuke, Naruto felt a sudden rush of shyness. He hesitated, feeling vulnerability overtaking him, but calmed when Sasuke's thumb slowly started tracing circles on his cheek. Smiling, Naruto plucked a feather out of Sasuke's hair and blew it away. It soared into the open, twisting and twirling in the air. It slowly floated to the ground, but Naruto ignored it as he continued to clean the white plumes out of Sasuke's hair.

As he worked, he stopped, eyes widening. What was he doing? What were _they_ doing? This was…_wrong_! Naruto shook his head violently. Things weren't supposed to be this way – Sasuke would never want Naruto like that…and it was stupid for him to hope as such. Naruto bowed his head sadly, his face shadowed by his hair. Blushing furiously, Naruto withdrew his hand and began rolling off of the boy underneath him.

"…Sorry…" he muttered demurely. As he tried to roll off, he stopped, two arms around his waist preventing him from moving. Suddenly, he found his vision level with the ground, his head resting against the soft cushiony fabric of the kakebuton. From the impact, hundreds of feathers flew into the air, showering down upon the two bodies. The arms around his torso tightened their hold and Naruto was pushed against a warm chest. Blushing furiously, he didn't bother looking up to see the pale face of the owner of the chest. He didn't thing he'd be able to stand seeing that face.

Naruto didn't know what to do. He'd never been in a position like this before and didn't know how to handle it. Sasuke, on the other hand, seemed to be at complete peace with this situation. Shrugging mentally, Naruto sighed, allowing himself to give in to the touch. He slowly raised his own arms, starting at Sasuke's middle and gradually sliding his hands up to his shoulders. He felt Sasuke shiver at the touch as Naruto slipped his arms around Sasuke's neck, bringing him closer to the older boy.

A sudden contentment spread throughout his entire body as he cuddled against the cool chest. He continued to nestle closer until their bodies were locked together firmly – Sasuke's arms secured around Naruto's waist and Naruto's arms around the Uchiha's neck. Sighing happily, Naruto let his thoughts drift away; they were only a distraction – nagging for him to let go, reminding him that he didn't deserve this and how he would never deserve this.

But Naruto didn't care. For one night, he would allow himself to be happy – whether the demon child Kyuubi deserved being happy or not. Sasuke didn't know about the seal and he never would. That thought alone comforted Naruto. He wouldn't be able to stand it if his friends – the only people who loved him – found out about the nine-tailed fox living inside of him. They would hate him.

Slowly, but surely, Naruto could feel the mask he had worked his life on making starting to fall to pieces. Light shone through the cracks and what lay behind wasn't sadness like it had used to be, but rather true happiness. The light he had hidden away and lost long ago had finally returned to him. He knew who helped him get it back and wouldn't be able to stand it if they hated him. Snuggling closer to Sasuke, he sighed contently as his eyes fluttered closed.

That night Naruto had forgotten to fix his mask before he had fallen asleep – something he hadn't forgotten to do in years. The pillows lay torn and the feathers scattered everywhere, but Naruto couldn't care less.

He much rather preferred the pillow he was sleeping on, anyway.

* * *

**A/N**: Keh, I don't know why, but I really do hate this chapter. Well, maybe not. But it doesn't matter what I think as long as you all liked it! Especially you, **xcloudx**! –sigh- Was that enough mushy fluff for you? My god, I'm exhausted! –falls over- So, what did you all think? I could really use some feed back, people! The amount of reviews I got last chapter was pathetic! Not that I'm one to complain, I suppose. Anyway, reviews are much appreciated and are always replied to! And I can only dedicate a chapter to a person if they review, so… -hint hint-

-cries- Augh, the plot is going _nowhere_! By the way things are going, there's probably about at least 12 more to go (if I'm lucky!) Oh, and with **New Moon Werewolf****'s **request, that's probably another 5 more chapters! Gah! Oh well! Meh, speaking of requests, don't forget yours, **xcloudx**! Oh, and **Sato**, I actually updated when I said I would! (Though it's kinda late at night…) Alright! Bed now!

-passes out-


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